Gundam Build Fighters - Ash and Snow
by Sou 'Ryuga' Norken
Summary: Several years after the victory of Iori Sei and Reiji, gunpla has become a worldwide phenomenon, loved by people internationally. Taijin Sakamoto is not one of these people- with gunpla robbing him of his grades and tossing him into a state of depression. His friends couldn't save him, but he then meets Kosetsu, a beautiful and talented gunpla fighter, who changes his life forever.
1. Prologue

**Gundam Build Fighters : Snow and Ash Prolouge**

After the victory of Iori Sei and Reiji in the International gunpla tournament took the world by storm, a new gunpla boom had occurred. Gunpla sales skyrocketed and battle systems were being set up everywhere. Within only two years, gundam had a larger fan base than any other anime in the world, and gunpla battle had more players than even the most popular online games. People from all over the world have been absorbed into the concept of gunpla battle. There are jobs and occupations related to gunpla battle as well - going so far that gunpla battle has even been acknowledged as an official subject for schools.

Local tournaments started opening up left and right, creating more chances for a gunpla battler to prove their strength on the battlefield. The number of people playing gunpla battle had tripled over the span of only two years, and with the overpopulation of players, PPSE incorporated a new system that will help control the number of people attending tournaments – the team system

Instead of going alone, five gunpla fans and friends can unite to form a team. The team will fight as one unit, instead of each person fighting by themselves. Four fighters, who are gunpla builders who pilot the mobile suit fighting in the battle, and one operator, who can send out a smaller support unit and is fully responsible for mobile suit maintenance and control. In tournaments, when team is called up to the stage to fight, the team must discuss among themselves which one of them should head out with the operator to fight. Once they have decided, the other three members have to sit back and watch, and become unable to contribute to the battle. There are some events that demand all five fighters in action at the same time, or even events that select the team's fighter completely randomly. Regardless, a formation of a team is obligatory if one wants to enter a gunpla battle tournament.

The fans responded positively, and over one million teams were formed in the span of only six months. Gunpla had grown incredibly fast, and the world was not prepared for what it had to offer.

To many gunpla fans, 18th of April was a significant day. It was the day that the number of gunpla sold exceeded 10 billion units. It symbolizes just how grand gunpla battle has become, and so the day of April 18th was called "Gunpla Day ". On this day, there would be a huge discount on gunpla, the giant gundam statue would be displayed at night in full bloom, and other things that would make a dedicated gunpla fan go crazy. April 18th was tomorrow, and many gunpla fans worldwide squealed in anticipation.

But to Taijin Sakamoto, April 18th was just another Friday.

Taijin Sakamoto was a 16 year old second year high school student, attending Raizen High Art School in Shizuoka. Great things were expected of him. His father, Ryuji Sakamoto was a famous international detective as well a talented martial artist. His mother, Katsura Sakamoto, was an absolute beauty, even winning beauty pageants several times. As a child, Taijin was unique in the sense that he spent most of his childhood isolated from gundam shows and gunpla. Which is why living in a school owned house with other gundam obsessed friends was driving him crazy. Loud gunpla battles at midnight, constantly talking about gundam shows and building gunpla every day. Unlike his friends, whose childhoods were filled with nothing but gunpla, his childhood consisted of drawing and studying, in hopes of becoming an artist. He attended Raizen High Art School, a school specializing in this area, and he was getting perfect grades. He was expected to graduate with exceptional grades.

Until Gunpla battle was added as an obligatory subject to take.

His grades spiked downwards. Taijin was simply unable to play gunpla battle. He didn't understand gundam and gunpla. The different types of gunpla, and which one was good for which situation. The confusing controls and the plavsky particles. Taijin, who was easily at the top of the class, was now at risk of repeating the current semester. His gunpla obsessed classmates on the other hand, were very comfortable with gunpla battle. They were even considering forming a team to attend the local tournaments.

The gunpla battle lesson weren't really lessons at all. The teachers were strict yet inexperienced, and there was no structure to classes. It was just that you were graded on your performance in gunpla battle, in the same way schools would grade you in PE. They would simply take your win rate, check it against the grade boundaries and graded it like that. Taijin , because of his natural talent with art, could build gunpla that was refined and polished. But they didn't last long – they were destroyed in their first battle.

Several times, Taijin's friends would beg him to join them in training. Maybe because of the academic pressure that gunpla battle has put on Taijin, he saw it in a bad light, they thought. Maybe if he saw its true nature, and how beautiful it can be, he will grow to like it and do better in class. Maybe if he loved gunpla battle he would play it every day and become an expert at it, saving his grades. But they were given the same answer every time they asked.

"Sorry guys. Not interested. I have work to do"

Home alone at night, Taijin lay on his bed and stared out the window. His room was messy, with sheets of A4 paper scattered across the room, and a mountain of scrunched up paper in his trash can. He let out a deep sigh.

Gunpla tore away everything from Taijin. His relationship with his friends, his exceptional grades,

Tomorrow was Gunpla day, which meant whether he liked it or not he would be surrounded by gunpla for the entire day.

"Gunpla battle…how ridiculous…Because of a battle of toys..."

* * *

Note from Author

Hello Reader!

You may remember me from the older story , Gundam Build Fighters a tale of two dragons. I don't know about you guys, but i didn't really like where that story was going, so i didn't want to offend you precious readers by giving you a half-hearted story. So here we are, on a clean slate, with a new story. Alot of planning and thought has went into this story, so i really hope that you enjoy it! :D

Anyways, Gundam Build Fighters Snow and Ash Chapter 1 - Snow in April will be out on the 20th of April! Please look forward to it! :D

Have a nice day!


	2. Snowfall in April

_**Chapter 1 = Snowfall in April**_

6:00 AM April 18

It was a sunny and cloudless day. Blue birds hung from tree branches singing, and there was a gentle rain of sakura petals coming from blooming sakura trees. There were posters of gundam scattered all around the city, and in the center of the city stood the giant 1:1 scale Gundam statue. Surrounding the gundam statue was what seemed like stands being set up for some large carnival that would happen later in the day. Blimps were soaring in the sky, displaying commercials for the new gunpla battle features.

Early in the morning, there was shuffling and chaos in the household. Taijin Sakamoto was in bed, covering his ears with his pillows to deafen himself from the violent screaming coming downstairs from his friends that shook the wooden floor. A single ray of blinding light pierced through the blinds landing directly on Taijin's face. He felt like his dark, black hair was going to fall off from his head. He slowly opened his dark brown eyes and glared at the ceiling blankly.

A loud, high pitched female voice called out to him from downstairs, disrupting Taijin's tranquil trance.

"Taijin-kun! Wake up! If you aren't downstairs in the next 10 minutes I'll drop a colony on you!"

Still covering his ears, Taijin shouted

"Shut up! Why are you guys so loud?!"

He continued lying down on his bed, and turned around so he faced the window. Through the blinds, he could caught a glimpse of the blimps floating in the sky with gunpla commercials, and immediately he sighed. He cursed himself quietly.

"For god's sake, I honestly can't escape this…Gunpla…Ridiculous"

His phone, placed on the side desk close to his right, suddenly started vibrating. Taijin reached out for and was greeted with an email notification. Upon reading it, he sighed again, but instead of a sigh of disappointment, it was a sigh of relief. He read it over again to himself quietly, to make sure he wasn't still dreaming

" Dear Taijin Sakamoto, This is your principal writing to you to inform that from today, you shall have a new resident in your school dorm house of C1. Her name is Kosetsu Yukimura, a talented art student just like you. You shall be in charge of picking her up and showing her around for the first few weeks. Today you have permission to leave school early from Period 3 to head to the train station to pick her up at about approximately 10:30 AM . When you arrive at the train station, look for a blonde haired girl around your age carrying a large red suitcase. From then onwards, you are to show her to the dorm house of C1, and make sure she is comfortable with everything by tomorrow. Best of luck."

Taijin's face was lit with a warm smile, something that was not present on his face for a long time. He thought to himself, He had an excuse to get away from school, to get away from gunpla battle class. The perfect timing as well – Period 3 is gunpla battle class. So all he needed to do was come in briefly for around two hours for physics, and he was free for the day. Heck, not just for the day. Gunpla day marks the end of the school term, so there would be a holiday for about 1 month.

A new female student as well, what could be better? In the household there are currently two guys and one girl, excluding Taijin – and girly isn't exactly the best word to describe Takahashi Mina-chan. Even though her figure is indeed feminine, her positive and optimistic mentality make her seem like a 12 year old tomboy, even though she's the oldest out of all of the residents being 17 years old. She would test out wresting moves on people just because, and it doesn't help that she has incredible physical strength. One time she even sent a student to the nurse with a drop kick, and justified it with "experimentation". Despite all of this though, Mina was a kind and honest girl – and easily one of the most reliable people Taijin has ever met in his life.

As Taijin was staring at the window daydreaming, a red haired female student burst into his messy room without warning, carrying a large rubber hammer. She charged right at Taijin, and gave him a solid whack on the head, snapping him out of his trance.

"I did warn ya man, if you weren't out in five minutes I'd drop a colony on you!"

Taijin, limping out from his bed, squealed

"Y-You said ten minutes…"

With a gleeful smile, she leaned over Taijin, who was lying on the floor in pain.

"Little details don't matter Tai-Tai! What is important is that now you're awake!"

While Taijin was struggling to get up, a faint sizzling sound could be heard coming from the ground floor, which was soon accompanied by a booming, low pitched yell from a panicking male student.

"Mina! The Zaku-pancakes! They're burning! HURRY!"

"NO! SAVE THE ZAKUS!" She screamed as she instantly raced out of Taijin's room, completely ignoring the fact that he was lying on the ground in agony.

Within a matter of seconds, the door was slammed shut, and Taijin was left alone in his room once again.

* * *

In his neat white shirt and blue pants uniform, Taijin walked down the stairs towards the kitchen. He was greeted by all of his other housemates already on the kitchen table, with oddly shaped pancakes in front of each of them. There was an empty chair, in between Mina and another male student. He was tall and muscular, and he had light brown hair. His name was Grind Coleslaw, a close friend to Taijin as well as the gunpla fighter with the best win: loss ratio in the entire grade.

Also on the table was another male student, with long grey hair that went down to the top rim of his glasses. His school uniform was collared all the way up to the top, and he was very careful about his sitting and eating posture. He was Mitsuo Kimura, and he was the vice president of Raizen High's student council.

Upon sitting down, Taijin was greeted with a strange looking pancake. Mitsuo passed him the apple syrup, and he calmly reassured

"Don't worry Taijin. It's a BuCue from Gundam seed. Unlike in the show, it's not going to bite."

Taijin reluctantly squeezed apple syrup all over the pancake, and began to slowly cut it up and eat it. After his first piece, he asked the group

"Why can't we just have a normal breakfast… these pancakes feel weird and overcooked"

Grind laughed out loud as he patted him on the back

"Blame Mina. When she went up to drop a colony on you she forgot that she was making these pancakes. That's why they're so overcooked."

Mina bolted up from her seat, her face completely red with embarrassment. She ferociously pointed at the oddly shaped pancake in front of her.

"Well this Zaku aint no Zaku to me if it can't hold its own in the pan! Real zakus can survive the vacuum of space, what's your excuse, pancake Zaku!?"

Mina still had food in her mouth as she spoke, so what she said was barely understandable. Somehow, Grind heard every word, and swallowed his piece before responding

"Well I don't think pancakes can survive the vacuum of space…" He then turned to Taijin, and continued talking "Today is gunpla day. That's why we are having these pancakes instead of the normal breakfast."

Taijin let out another sigh, as he continued to eat the pancake. Finished before the others, Mitsuo stood up from his seat, carrying his empty plate. He walked towards the dishwasher, while reminding everyone on the table

"Hurry up guys. Even though it's gunpla day, I don't think the school will let us off for being late."

* * *

The walk to school felt long and endless for Taijin despite only being 10 minutes. As they strolled down the sidewalk, there were gunpla posters at every corner, and the blimps that were floating in the sky made it impossible for anybody to escape gunpla on that day. Mitsuo, Mina and Grind were cheerfully chatting about how ridiculous the battle between the Freedom and the Impulse was, and how impractical the Strike freedom gundam was. Taijin was there, reading the email to himself over and over. About halfway through the walk, he told the group that there would be a new resident in the house, and they responded by discussing about how cool it would have been if she played gunpla battle.

No matter what the topic, Taijin could not escape from gunpla.

Taijin's only lesson of the day, physics, was gunpla related as well. Because it was gunpla day, the physics teacher discussed the physics behind nuclear powered gundam and how it was impossible for the freedom and the impulse to survive the nuclear explosion caused by the Freedom's nuclear reactor.

The entire school had gunpla posters all over the corridors and lockers as well, advertising a private tournament exclusive to the school. Teachers, instead of wearing their usual shirt and tie, were permitted to wear gundam shirts. One teacher even found the time to make a gundam helmet, and wore it to school.

Taijin left school after two hours of gundam physics, and thanked god for the brilliant timing of his leave. If he had stayed in gunpla battle class on gunpla day, who knows what would have happened.

He walked down the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets, looking down at the ground. Despite leaving school grounds, he still wore his uniform tidily. As he walked down the streets, he glanced at his watch, and noticed that it was only 9:00 AM.

"Geez. I have so much time before I have to go…"

Taijin continued walking towards the train station, despite how early he was. Even though he was walking at a sluggish pace, he arrived with 45 minutes to spare.

The train station was rather empty, and gunpla posters were also all over the train station. It was clean and sanitary, with reliable security. There was only one rail for the train to arrive, and on both sides of the rail was a sidewalk for passengers to come and go. Taijin sat on a bench by the sidewalk, waiting.

At 9:45 one train arrived, covered in gundam paintings and stickers. Leaving the train was a family of three - the father, the mother, and one son. The son was wearing a gundam shirt, and after leaving the train the first question he asked was

"Papa! Where is the battle room?"

Taijin was just sitting there, watching as the family was being escorted into a small room with large glass windows, not so far from where he was sitting. He glanced at the curved metal roof of the train station, and thought to himself

"I have some spare time anyways…45 minutes…might as well check it out. Better than nothing"

Standing up from the bench, he strolled towards the room. As he approached it, he heard the robotic voice that was all too familiar to him.

"Please set your GP base"

He arrived at the window, and peeked inside. There was a large octagonal machine right in the middle of the dark room. The boy, who was on one side of the octagon, placed his GP base onto the slot as his parents stood on the sidelines. The robotic voice spoke once more

"Please select game mode"

Taijin's face was lit up with surprise. The command was completely new and unfamiliar to him, as he was used to the machine setting the field right after the base was inserted, not asking for what kind of game mode the player wanted. He then remembered the blimps in the sky today advertising a new update. He whispered to himself

"So that's what this is all about…Geez…It just keeps getting bigger and bigger"

He continued watching, as the child squawked voice commands at the machine to get the game mode that he wanted. The machine started emitting light blue particles, as they rose up from the sides of the machine to create transparent azure walls. Within those walls, more particles filled the machine, dancing around and changing colors, until it formed an accurate replica of a desert.

"Field 3 : Desert"

Taijin let out a small chuckle as the robot announced the field. It was one of his favorite fields despite his detestation for gunpla battle. There wasn't anything striking about the field for him, it was just like any other field. It was just that the machine would mispronounce the name, and it would end up sounding more like dessert. The robot's accent was one of the things that Taijin looked forward to when playing gunpla battle in classes.

"Please set your gunpla "

The boy reached for a small holder that was mounted on his belt. He opened it, and he pulled out a gunpla. It was a black gundam, with a large shield on its left hand, and a yellow claw mounted on its right hand. Taijin leaned in against the window, to get a closer look at the gunpla. He instinctively began narrating quietly to himself the features of the gunpla

"Nub marks are still present. Foil stickers applied. No panel lining. No paint applications. Scratch marks on its left shoulder and right elbow. Shield has a total of three cracks on it. This is a straight build, and it's probably very old as well…"

Taijin, despite disliking gunpla, had a very sharp eye when it came to the construction of gunpla. He was a talented artist, and he could build beautiful gunpla. It's just a matter that he couldn't control it even if his life depended on it – which ended up in his gunpla getting destroyed on the first run no matter how great it was.

The boy placed the black gundam on a panel directly above is glowing GP base, and the eyes of the gunpla lit up as he did. More particles began flowing out from the machine, surrounding the boy, creating another smaller octagonal wall around him. Two yellow floating orbs appeared in front of him, and he placed his hands on it.

"Battle start"

The boy, with a smile, announced

"Blitz gundam, let's go!"

The gundam was pushed down the launching catapult by two rails attached on the gunpla's foot, and it was flung into the desert arena. On the opposite side of the arena, a green mobile suit was slowly hovering towards the blitz, despite having no human pilot as an opponent. Once more, Taijin leaned in to inspect the gunpla closely

"An unmanned unit by the computer… A regular Zaku II. Superior in model quality. Nub marks have been neatly cleaned up and sanded down, and the gunpla has been panel lined neatly as well"

The Blitz gundam pointed its shield towards the Zaku II, and a single spear shot out from under the shield. The Zaku made a swift maneuver to the right, and dodged the flying projectile. Taijin was observing closely from the window, as the boy moved the yellow orbs back and forth.

Drawing its heat hawk, the Zaku II rushed in close to the Blitz. With a quick swipe, the corner of the black Gundam's pointed shoulder armor was cleanly cut off. A kick in the stomach from the blitz sent the Zaku II flying back from right where it came, cracking the cockpit slightly.

Suddenly, an uncontrollable wave of pain rushed through Taijin's head, as he forcibly shut his eyes and turned away from the window. He started to breathe heavily, and he slowly kneeled down on the floor. He cursed himself quietly

"Crap…this always happens when I watch or play a gunpla battle…those plavsky particles…"

After a minute of sitting down against the wall breathing heavily, Taijin stood up again and walked away from the battle room, completely ignoring the intense, loud battle sounds coming from the machine. He sighed, as he sat down on the bench he did before, and continued to wait for the train.

* * *

At 10:30, a red train, covered with Sinanju decals, arrived at the train station. Taijin stood up from his bench, and approached the sidewalk. Coming from the train was only one person, a girl around his age with a red suitcase. This had to be the new resident.

But it wasn't like anything that he had expected

The girl was an absolute beauty. Her hair was a silky cream color, and her eyes were a pure sapphire blue. She wore a white jacket and a short white skirt, as well as blue trainers and a blue shirt. She gave Taijin an innocent gaze, as she strolled towards him elegantly and asked

"Are you the one?"

Taijin, still stunned by her beauty, muttered

"Y-yes…f-f-follow me…"

He rapidly turned away from her, walking towards the train station exit. His face was blushing intensely, as the girl followed along silently.

* * *

The majority of their walk to the house of C1 was relatively eventless and quiet. She would gaze off into the distance as Taijin escorted her down the sidewalk. About halfway through their walk, they approached a crossing, and they had to wait through a red light. She was still staring into sky, as three older guys, who noticed her from a distance, began walking towards them.

They were wearing black jackets, and were smoking. One of them was carrying a baseball bat, while another of them was flipping a coin as they walked along. They approached them with a nasty grin. They were talking amongst themselves

"Damn, that girl is cute…"

"Let's go and have some fun with her"

"Who knows, we might even be able to take her home tonight…"

Taijin, who caught them out of the corner of his eye, instantly turned around. He gave the gang a hostile stare. They continued walking closer to her, and Taijin struck a defensive martial arts stance. He declared to them

"I'm in charge of making sure that this girl arrives at her destination safely. I'll make sure that that happens, so if I were you I wouldn't do anything funny."

The men laughed, as they continued walking towards her.

"Get out of the way kid."

"Yeah, we've been a little thirsty lately. We need that girl more than you do. A guy's needs have to be fulfilled"

Smiling confidently, Taijin taunted them

"Really? You really dare call yourself a guy doing something like this? Go and buy some makeup."

The gang stopped dead in their tracks. Their faces burned red, and they started to crack their knuckles. Taijin leaned over to the girl, and whispered

"Cross the street, and keep walking. In about a minute, you should come across a fork, and take the right turn. C1 is down that road. I'll meet you there soon. Hurry, go."

Seemingly completely oblivious to the situation, the girl continued staring blankly at the sky, still dragging her luggage along with her. Taijin was panicking, and he was thinking that of all the times for someone to be daydreaming, it had to be now when they could potentially be a victim of kidnapping.

One of the three men charged at Taijin, with his fists clenched. He swiped right at his head, but a sudden duck made the punch completely miss. Taijin kicked the man right in the groin, knocking him onto the ground and making him squeal helplessly. Repairing his stance, Taijin faced the two remaining men confidently

"My father's a detective and master martial artist. Still want to keep going?"

The two men violently charged at Taijin at once, with one of them wielding a metal baseball bat. They let out a wild battle cry, as Taijin immediately shifted to a defensive stance, bracing himself for a painful attack.

As swift as the wind, the girl dashed around Taijin while carrying her massive red suitcase. Swinging it around with incredible strength, the base of the heavy suitcase slammed right into the heads of the men with a deafening thud. The two delinquents were sent flying, and landed on the ground unconscious.

As if nothing out of the ordinary just happened, she knelt down to dust off some dirt that was on the base of her luggage. She glanced at Taijin, and said in a calm, monotone voice

"Kosetsu Yukimura. Nice to meet you"

Blushing again, Taijin responded

"T-Taijin Sakamoto. Nice to meet you as well"

There was a gentle rain of Sakura petals as the two of them smiled at each other, and resumed their walk to the dorm, ignoring the unconscious delinquents behind them.

* * *

**Author's note**

Thank you for reading my first chapter! I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

If you guys are wondering why the Chapter title is "Snow in April" , It's because Kosetsu means snowfall in Japanese. My Japanese isn't great, so correct me if I'm wrong ^.^

A chapter will be released every Sunday, so Gundam Build Fighters Ash and Snow Chapter 2: Gundam Fiesta will be released on the 27th of April. Please look forward to it!

Have a nice day!


	3. Gundam Fiesta

**_Chapter 2 = Gunpla Fiesta!_**

Kosetsu and Taijin, after a long walk, were standing in front of the school dorm-house of C1. It was located conveniently near the school, grocery store, and most importantly – the hobby shop. The house itself was small but cute – with a very Japanese feel to it. Opening the front gate, Taijin made a welcoming gesture, inviting Kosetsu into the house.

They opened the front door, and stepped into the building. The entire house was lit up by natural sunlight shining through the windows, which gave the wooden floors a glamorous, natural shine. The walls, which were painted white, which were slowly turning grey as time went on. Despite the age of the house, it was holding up very well.

Holding her luggage for her, Taijin brought her up the stairs, and led her to a room in on the first floor. Placing the luggage in front of the door, he looked at Kosetsu with a smile

"This is going to be your room."

Kosetsu didn't say a word, and simply stared at Taijin with an innocent, clueless gaze. Her blue eyes met his brown eyes, and after a few seconds of staring, Taijin suddenly blushed and awkwardly turned around. Stuttering a bit, he responded

"A-Anyway. You better go and unpack. Lunch will be ready in a bit."

He walked down the stairs as Kosetsu giggled at his adorable clumsiness.

* * *

As Taijin's frying pan was sizzling with beef fillet on it, the high pitched melodic doorbell of the house rang. Sighing, he abandoned the frying pan, as he went to check the front door. With his cooking apron still on, he left the kitchen and began walking down the corridor leading to the front door. He called out

"I'm co-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Mina rushed through the front door and greeted Taijin with a lighting fast flying kick. It landed right on Taijin's chest, knocking him down. Mina gracefully landed while Taijin was recovering from her attack

Grunting, Taijin dusted his apron, while Grind and Mitsuo trotted through the front door, carrying all of their school bag. Grabbing Mina on the shoulder, Taijin yelled

"Geez, will you stop attacking me! It hurts you kno-"

A punch from Mina to Taijin's chest interrupted his speech, and this time the punch sent him flying across the corridor. With an elegant spin, Taijin managed to land to perform a handspring, and landed on two feet. Mina let out a wild battle cry

"Roar, Build Knuckle!"

Mitsuo and Grind, still at the front gates, laughed enthusiastically. Fixing his crooked apron, Taijin shouted

"What is your problem Mina!? And why are you guys back so early anyways?!

Mitsuo stepped forward, and adjusting his glasses, explained their early arrival.

"Well you see, after gunpla battle class we were called out by the principal and we were instructed to head home before lunch. We were told to greet the new resident, and that we would have the day off to make her feel comfortable with everything here. And since today's the last day of school for a month…"

Mina threw her arms up in the air energetically, like a hyperactive 5 year old child

"It's time for a holiday , whoo hoo!"

Grind sighed as he skirted past Mina. His towering figure simply sidestepped over Mina with ease.

"So, where's our new resident?"

Walking back to the kitchen, Taijin responded as he began his short trek bac into the kitchen.

"Well she's upstairs unpacking. Lunch will be ready in a sec."

Mina sprinted ahead and intercepted Taijin's walk. She leaned in close to him, their noses almost touching

"So, is she cute?"

Taijin gently shoved Mina back and rapidly turned around before anybody could see his blushing face.

"W-What are you guys saying?!"

Grind and Mitsuo chuckled as they paced towards the stairs. Grind stopped halfway past the corridor, as he gazed towards the kitchen

"Hey, Taijin. Your filet is…"

There was a sizzling sound coming from the kitchen, as Taijin remembered the beef that he was cooking for lunch.

"DAMMIT YOU GUYS"

He, almost tripped as he sprinted to the kitchen. He grabbed the frying pan, which had steaming beef filet on it.

"D-Don't worry! Just get changed, lunch will be ready in a sec!"

* * *

"Taijin, this beef filet is overcooked."

Kosetsu whined in a monotone voice as she was eating the beef fillet. Despite her clear disapproval of the food, her face was emotionless as she continued eating the beef. Everyone's eyes were focused on her. Mina added

"That's right. Taijin's a terrible chef. He should never be allowed in the kitchen"

His face red in embarrassment, he retorted

"That's because you guys came home early without telling anyone…so I had to get the door…"

Mina chucked, as Taijin stared at Kosetsu mindlessly poking her food. Grind cleared his throat.

"Don't worry about it Kosetsu. It's a bit overcooked because we interrupted his cooking. It's usually very good"

Kosetsu showed no response, her facial expression was exactly the same and she didn't say a word. Mina leaned over to Taijin and whispered

"Hey, what do you think?"

"Well she's rather clueless at times, and she spaces out quite often. But in general she seems like nice person I guess…"

Hearing their quiet whispers, Grind leaned over to Taijin as well and chipped in

"A nice person I guess? That's all you can say despite spending the most time with her out of all of us?"

Kosetsu glared at the chatting trio, and noticing her gaze, they instantly reverted to their own seats, eating. They were sweating intensely, and Mina was trembling as Kosetsu's sapphire eyes stared into her soul.

Mitsuo, sensing the drastic change in atmosphere, reached in his pocket and pulled out a flyer. It had several gundams displayed on it, as well as the massive 1:1 scale gundam statue that would be on display on that night.

"Tonight there's going to be a huge festival for gundam fans. It's going to be held in the city center and the gundam statue is going to be there. In honor of our new resident here, I think it would be a good idea if we all go together"

Mina's face was lit up with an energetic smile, and Grind nodded his head in approval. Kosetsu continued eating as if nothing was going on. Taijin, however, stood up from his chair, instantly objecting to the idea.

"Hey hey! We don't even know if Kosetsu is even a Gunpla fighter, let alone a gundam fan! We should at least ask for her approval! Right, Kosetsu?"

With exaggerated hand gestures, he glared at Kosetsu, silently begging for her not to approve the idea of going to the festival. Although he didn't dare to say it, he has already had enough of gunpla for one day.

Her gaze was still fixated on the plate that was in front of her. A few seconds passed before she replied

"I want to go to the gunpla fiesta"

Mitsuo grinned as he announced

"Then it's decided. We're leaving today at 6 o'clock sharp. Make sure you all tune-up your gunpla before we leave"

* * *

Two hours after lunch, Taijin lay on his bed staring at his room's ceiling. On his desk was a half-completed gunpla. It was lazily put together and its lower body wasn't even assembled yet. Some nub marks were left untrimmed, and stuck out disgustingly from the otherwise perfectly smooth armor. But Taijin didn't care. He knew all too well that no matter how beautiful or brilliant his gunpla is, it wouldn't last beyond its first battle. So what's the point of even making a perfect gunpla if it's just going to blow up in its first launch?

Taijin closed his eyes, and sighed. He thought about his grades. His falling grades – and how if he failed gunpla class he may be at risk of repeating the year. He clenched his fist as he thought about how much better the world would be for him if gunpla never existed.

"Idiot"

Taijin suddenly jumped up as he heard a familiar voice whisper to him. He turned, and he saw Kosetsu, leaning over his bed.

"H-HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?!"

Ignoring his question completely, Kosetsu strolled around his room. Taijin sat on his bed as he watched Kosetsu dance around, observing every inch of his room. She noticed the half built gunpla lying on his desk. Reaching out, she took the gunpla and inspected it carefully. It was a gundam with a red body, and with exceptionally large fists, shoulders and knees. Despite it not being finished yet, it was already collecting dust and part of its shoulder was scratched. Within just a few seconds, she turned to Taijin.

"Do you know how to build a gunpla?"

"Of course I do!"

"I don't think so. A beginner could build a better Age-1 Titus than this."

"So? I don't really care."

Kosetsu whipped her hand across Taijin's face, leaving a bright red hand-mark where her palm hit his cheek. Taijin avoided eye contact with her after the slap, and he embarrassingly took the gunpla from her hands.

The quiet girl who would barely speak a few words to him before just whipped her hand across his face in defense of gunpla battle. It was obvious – she was a gunpla fan. Just. Like. The. Rest.

"I don't have a reason to build one to the best of my efforts"

"Why is that? Is it because you think you're too old for it or something?"

"No! It's because there's no point."

Taijin lay the gunpla on his desk, and walked past Kosetsu. He grabbed a cardboard box that was under his desk and handed it to her. She opened it, and inside was a graveyard of gunpla. There were dozens of gunpla which were carefully panel-lined and painted- yet they all lay broken in pieces inside the box. Gunpla of all sizes and colors, with scratch marks and missing pieces. Kosetsu stared at the box with her usual, emotionless expression.

"That's what happens to all of the gunpla I put effort into. They may be well-made, but a crap pilot will always lead the gunpla to defeat."

Kosetsu smiled at the box of gunpla parts.

"You see a graveyard of destroyed gunpla in this box?"

"I see all of my wasted time and effort, all of my dying grades, and my hatred for gunpla in that box"

"Then you must be blind. I see potential. In the box, and in you"

Taijin laughed half-heartedly at Kosetsu's compliment. She slowly walked out of the room, with the box in her hands. She turned back to give Taijin another gentle gaze with her sapphire eyes.

"I'm going to use the parts here to create a wonderful gunpla. In the same way I'm going to use the potential in you to create a wonderful fighter."

The door closed, as Taijin stared in amazement. He glanced at his incomplete gundam, and sighed.

"She really thinks that she can make a gunpla out of those parts there?"

He wandered back to his bed, weary and lazy. Throwing himself onto the bed like a helpless ragdoll, he stared at his room celing as he murmured to himself

"There's no way. Just like how that black box is as valuable as a trash can, there's no way that I'm going to be worth anything too."

* * *

The clock struck 5:50 as Taijin walked down the stairs. He wore his only gundam shirt- which was a blue shirt with an illustration of the Abyss gundam that he received as a present from Mina for his last birthday. Downstairs, Kosetsu was waiting by the front door. She wore a short blue skirt, and her white shirt had an image of the strike freedom printed in gold. She smiled innocently at him, as he approached her with a sigh.

"You're rather early, Kosetsu"

He noticed the small black holder that was attached to her belt. He knew what it was upon seeing it – It was a holder that was meant to carry around gunpla when going to battle. Before its invention people just stuffed it in their pockets – but foolishly risked scratching the gunpla as they moved around. After a second, Taijin opened his mouth in shock as he realized what it was for

"Is that what I think it is? Did you really manage to turn the parts in the black box into a functional gunpla?! In two hours?!"

Kosetsu patted the black holder as she gave Taijin another smile.

"I managed to get one working at least. It's not 100% complete yet though."

As Taijin continued staring at the black holder, Mitsuo, Grind and Mina all walked down the stairs together. Mina, noticing Taijin's shirt, rushed up to him and gave him a large hug that almost knocked him over

"Oh my gosh, you're wearing the shirt that I got you!"

"Well duh, I'm going to a gunpla festival. I'll look like a weirdo if I'm the only one not in gundam related clothes"

Mina, with her arms still wrapped around Taijin, glanced at the black holder on Kosetsu's waist. She instantly let go of Taijin, and dashed up to Kosetsu. She stopped at an uncomfortable distance, as if she intended to sniff the gunpla hoder.

"Oh, so you DO play gunpla battle"

Despite Mina's nose nearly touching the holder, Kosetsu replied in a calm, monotone voice

"I never said I didn't"

"Can I see your GP base? Please? Please?"

Taijin smiled at her eagerness to see Kosetsu's GP base. He understood why, the GP base tracks every single statistic of a gunpla fighter, while doubling as an identification for the fighter. Everything from most used gunpla, to accuracy, to win: loss ratio. The GP base also identifies the fighter, so it's basically impossible to play gunpla battle without the GP base. Not that it was really an issue, GP bases were so common that it wasn't even a problem.

Grind and Mituso walked down the stairs together, also wearing fashionable gunpla outfits. Kosetsu gently pushed Mina back a bit, as Mitsuo started walking to the front gate. He turned around to the group, and adjusted his glasses.

"We can save that stuff for later. I'm sure everyone brought their GP base, but regarding the gunpla…"

Grind, who was wearing a red jacket with gold highlights to represent the sinanju, shook his head

"I think we should rent the gunpla today. The gunpla fiesta usually gets pre-released models, and it's pretty likely that they will be renting those for people who want to play gunpla battle. Besides, our gunpla has been damaged today anyways in class"

Mitsuo giggled, as he exclaimed

"You saw right through me as usual Grind…I was thinking we should rent a well"

Kosetsu stepped forward, with her hand on the holder mounted on her waist

"I'll be fine using what I've got here. I'm not really that interested in the newer models anyway"

Taijin giggled at her stubbornness, as she began walking out of the front door. Her light, blonde hair waved elegantly as the others followed her out of the building.

* * *

The city center was lit up with bright lights, as the quiet, spacious park that was at the center of the city was converted into a massive, lively festival. There were hundreds of dozens of tents that were set up in the park, selling all sorts of crazy gundam merchandise. Placed perfectly in the center of the festival was the giant 1:1 scale gundam statue that towered above the entire city. Its eyes glowed bright yellow as it overlooked overjoyed gundam fans migrating from tent to tent.

The residents of C1 arrived in the front gate, and despite the park being one of the biggest in the entire country, it was rather crowded with gundam fanatics of all ages. Mina pointed upwards at the statue and screamed in joy

"WAH! IT'S THE GUNDAM STATUE!"

Taijin smiled as he watched the giant gundam statue slowly rotate its head left and right. Although he disliked gunpla in general, there were some things that he couldn't help but feel as if they were extraordinary. The giant statue was one of those things.

Mina grabbed his arm, and the group began migrating from tent to tent.

"Oh my god, I never knew that these gundam popsicles ever existed! Taijin look!"

"Hey, Mitsuo, what do you think of these Sinanju themed sunglasses? Cool, eh?"

"Taijin. Stuffed Haros."

They were running around like children in a toy shop in the festival, and as they left each tent one of them would be carrying at least one more shopping bag.

About an hour passed ever since they entered, and between all of them they had to be carrying at least 30 shopping bags. Ranging from gundam shoes to gundam themed soda, they were carrying exclusive gundam merchandise that was only available in the Gundam Fiesta.

Taijin leaned in close to mina, who was carrying five shopping bags.

"Hey...where the heck did you get all of this money?"

"I've been saving up for the Gundam Fiesta for all of last year. That's why I can afford so much awesome stuff! I'm sure Grind and Mitsuo is the same! But Kosetsu…"

They both glanced at Kosetsu, who was carrying the most bags out of the entire group. She was carrying eight bags, each stuffed with gunpla merchandise. Taijin, on the other hand, was carrying 3 bags, but they didn't belong to him. They belonged to Kosetsu.

"I don't know. Maybe she's some sort of princess or something."

"How can a princess be so absent minded all the time?"

"Maybe it's because she's a princess that she's absent minded"

Hearing the muttering behind her, Kosetsu glanced behind her and gave Taijin and Mina a cold stare that sent shivers up their spine. Grind interrupted the confrontation by calling out to them from a large tent.

"Hey! Come over here!"

The group proceeded to Grind, who was already waiting for them in front of a massive tent. It was several times larger than the smaller stands, almost like a circus tent. Inside the tent were a large assortment of gunpla battle machines, as well as a stage at the end of the tent. There was also a display case of newer models close to the entrance, which was open to the public to rent the newest gunpla models. The sounds of gunpla battle filled the tent as they walked up to the rental counter with glee. Grind leaned in close to inspect the gunpla that were being displayed.

"Darn…the newest gunpla have all been rented out already…"

The group sighed in disappointment as they were faced with older models for rent on the shelves. Mitsuo leaned in as well, the lens on his glasses reflecting the gunpla on display

"It's alright. These gunpla here are well built anyway." He looked towards the counter, where there was a lady in a gundam ship crew uniform. "I'll take this Xekueins please."

The lady walked up to the display case, and took out a blue mobile suit. Taijin, despite his limited knowledge of the gundam universe, tried to identify it.

"A gundam…no. It's lacking the eyes and the V-fin. It's got a mono-eye and two large gray canisters mounted on its shoulders. That gun as well…"

Mitsuo gently took the mobile suit as it was handed to him by the lady.

" The Xeku Eins. It's not a surprise that you don't really know it, it first appeared in gundam sentinel."

Grind pointed to another mobile suit being displayed in the case

"I'll take that Slash Zaku warrior please"

The lady reached into the display case once again, and pulled out a light blue mobile suit. As she handed it to Grind, Taijin began identifying the mobile suit as he did with Mitsuo's Xeku Eins.

"That's obviously a zaku, even a non gundam fan will know that. But this isn't a normal zaku. Those shoulder mounted spiked shields, as well as that giant beam halberd. There are even two gatling guns on the zaku's back."

Mina weaved her way past everybody, and immediately pointed to another mobile suit in the display case

"Then I'll take that Gouf Ignited please! I don't want to break the mono-eye trend!"

The lady reached in and grabbed a bright yellow mobile suit, with a design strikingly similar to the slash zaku warrior.

"A Zaku…no, it' a Gouf. That's no Zaku, boy."

Mina gasped as Taijin uttered those words

"Did you just?!"

"N-NO! I DIDN'T JUST MAKE A GUNDAM REFERENCE. IT WAS PURELY COINCIDENTAL."

Kosetu gently tugged Taijin's shirt, getting his attention

"Get an operator unit"

Her calm voice almost faded into the background amongst the chaos, but Taijin manage to comprehend what she said.

"Well, I guess I'll take the skygrasper with the aile pack please."

The lady ducked, and carefully took out a jet-like model with large red wings attached on its back that was lying on the bottom shelf of the display case. Taijin carefully held it in his hands.

"If someone here had a strike unit, it would be much better. But I guess it can't be helped"

The lady stood up again, and made a calm gesture to Kosetsu

"And which mobile suit would you like to use, madam?"

Kosetsu shook her head, as she tapped the black holder on her belt.

" It's fine. I brought my own"

With a smile, the lady handed the group another leaflet. Grind took it, and began reading it aloud for the rest of the group to hear

"Special event, Team defense. Experience the new update of gunpla battle firsthand with the brand new defense mode! Defend the ship for 15 minutes from swarms of enemies and win a huge prize of an exclusive gunpla. Regular rules apply. Maximum 4 fighters and one operator."

The lady took out a gunpla box that was under the counter. It as a black box, with words engraved in gold on the box "Exclusive defense prize: Gold plated High grade full armor unicorn gundam"

"This is the prize we are offering for all teams that make it past the fifteen minute mark. It is a golden full armor unicorn gundam, value is estimated to be approximately 200 US dollars. Would you like to enter?"

Mina nodded energetically, and looked at Grind. He nodded as well, and Mitsuo gave a thumbs up of approval. Kosetsu grabbed Taijin's shoulder as she nodded.

"It' okay Taijin. I'll teach you"

With a sigh, Taijin looked at the skygrasper in his hands

"It can't be helped."

The lady gestured them, and led them into a fenced area within the tent with a single, large battle system. As they entered, a robotic voice came from the machine

"Please set your GP base"

Everyone reached into their pockets, and pulled out a rectangular, phone like device, and placed it on a slot on the machine. As they placed the bases, the formerly black and lifeless screen lit up in a gentle blue light.

Taijin redirected his eyes away from his GP base that was glowing in front of him. It was boasting his laughable win: loss ratio, and he was embarrassed to even look at it.

"Field 1D, Space Defense"

The plavsky particles began rising from the base of the machine, creating a wall of particles around the machine and the five people around. The particles within the machine dyed themselves a range of luminescent colors to replicate the void of space.

"Please set your gunpla"

Taijin placed his Skygrasper on the slot, and then instantly looked at Kosetsu.

"Let's see what you made from that black box."

Kosetsu noticed his anxious gaze, and responded with a confident smile. She reached into the holder and pulled out her gunpla. Taijin's jaw dropped dead as he saw the sheer brilliance of the gunpla that Kosetsu created.

"A modified Exia with limbs from the Destiny gundam. The left arm has a foldable GN sword, and the right arm has the hands of the destiny which probably means it can use the energy shield. But…it's flawless. The paint job is polished, all the rough edges are sanded. This isn't the work of someone with two hours…it takes weeks to make a gunpla like this."

"Like it, Taijin?"

Kosetsu taunted Taijin confidently, leaving him unable to respond. He knew he couldn't make a rebuttal. He didn't like it. He loved it. It was perfect in nearly every way.

"Don't get too excited though. I'm not finished with it yet. I'm just taking it out for a test run."

As she placed it on the launching platform, the Gundam's eye lit up in a brightly glowing gold.

"Battle start."

The fighters placed their hands on the orbs that were in front of them, while a light blue control panel lit up in front of Taijin. After examining the data in front of him for a short while, Taijin announced to the group

"All systems green. Ready to launch"

"Mitsuo Kimura. Xeku Eins. Launching!"

"Grind Coleslaw. Slash Zaku Warrior. I'm heading out."

"Mina Takahashi. Gouf Ignited. Off I go!"

While Mina, Grind and Mitsuo all energetically screamed their launching, Kosetsu, on the other hand, quietly muttered it to herself.

"Proto-sapphire Exia. Kosetsu Yukimura. Launching."

As the four gundams launched into the arena of space, a large ship began to materialize in the middle of the battlefield. It had colors of white, blue and red, and a distinctive shape that any gundam fan would recognize. The Xeku Eins hovered above the ship as Mitsuo easily identified the ship

"Defending white base, huh? It's an honor."

After a short, eventless few seconds, a few red dots started appearing from Taijin's control panel.

" Guys , Northeast there's 20 Zaku's approa-"

His speech was interrupted by a powerful wave of pain, similar to what happened earlier in the day. He started breathing heavily, and continued his speech

"20 Zakus approaching from Northeast"

Like a shooting star, Kosetsu's exia rushed into the group of Zakus. Blazing through each unit, she left a trail of destruction as she dispatched each Zaku with a swing of her GN sword.

Grind's Slash Zaku stood idly in amazement, as explosions lit up the battlefield like fireworks.

"Incredible…It seems like I've finally got myself a worthy competitor"

Kosetsu, despite taking down an entire platoon of Zakus single handedly, stared emotionlessly through the plavsky walls, straight at Taijin. At this point, Taijin was sweating intensely and breathing heavily – all in order to keep himself in the battle as the team's operator

"Twel-Twelve Doms approaching South West! Three more Zakus coming from the East!"

Grind rushed towards the group of bulky, purple doms, and swung his halberd. Mitsuo aimed his beam rifle at the squadron of approaching Zakus, and quickly took them out.

"Taijin, I need refuel on my beam rifle!"

Responding to Mitsuo's call for help, Taijin placed his hands on the yellow glowing orb controllers.

"I'm co-"

Another excrutiating wave of pain rushed through Taijin's body, completely overwhelming him. His vision began to feel dizzy, as he placed one hand on his forehead.

"No…I have to say in the battle, for the sake of my-"

His eyes shut closed, as he felt another wave of pain conquer his body.

"I...I…I have to…"

Taijin fell forward, phasing through the blue plavsky walls, collapsing on the floor.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Thank you for reading chapter 2!

I would also like to thank you guys for your reviews and your feedback from the content in chapter 1 . Thanks alot, I really appreciate it :D

Gundam Build Fighters Ash and Snow Chapter 3 : Team Carbon will be released on the 4th of May. Please look forward to it!

Have a nice day!


	4. Team Carbon

**_Chapter 3 = Team Carbon!_**

A shooting star flew across the night sky, leaving a trail of shining gold. Lying on the side of a river bank, Taijin observed the stars as they flickered like diamonds. As a gentle gust of wind rushed past his hair, he grunted abruptly, and leaned up from his seat.

"Huh…what's going on… How did I get here?"

He noticed that the river banks stretched on for what seems like forever, and that there was no bank visible on the other side of the river – as if he were on the shore of a beach. The ocean was a beautiful light blue, and its waves were gentle and soft. Hitting himself on the head, Taijin sighed, and lay back down on the bank. The soft cut grass gently cushioned his head as he watched the stars dance, lighting up the midnight sky.

"Haha."

Jolting up from his position immediately, Taijin looked around frantically. He murmured to himself in confusion.

"I thought I heard a voice…"

"Haha."

A soft, feminine laugh could be heard echoing from under the ocean. Taijin slowly walked towards it, taking a deep breath as he did. The laugh was unfamiliar to him; it was sweet and cute, yet it had a sense of malice and cruelty behind it. Although it was simply a laugh, Taijin never heard a laugh that scared him so much.

The soft, cold waves wrapped around his feet as he entered the shore, hoping to find the source of the laughter. As he began to walk further deeper into the ocean, he noticed a girl who was seemingly standing on top of the water a few meters in front of him.

She wore a short, frilly black dress with silver highlights. Her black hair was neatly tied into twin tails, with red hairbands holding them together. She had two red armbands which had a scarlet shine under the moonlight. Taijin was quickly captivated by her most striking feature – her left eye was black, whereas her right eye was red.

Standing elegantly on top of the water surface, she stretched out her hand to Taijin.

"Taijin Sakamoto. So you're the next one. I see. Let me give you some advice."

Her voice was similar to Kosetsu's – monotone and emotionless. However, it resonated with Taijin, shaking his body with each word spoken. He gulped as the girl continued to talk.

"You cannot be afraid to take risks. You cannot change the world without getting your hands dirty"

She gracefully turned her back to Taijin with one beautiful spin that caused gentle ripples in the water underneath her. As the ripples continued to expand, the water that was once a stunning blue turned into a bloody red.

"Kosetsu Yukimura. Grind coleslaw. Mina Takahashi. Mitsuo Kimura. Those names will become very important to you very quickly. If you forget, for even a second, there are dire consequences."

Taijin stood in disbelief as the girl hovered above the ocean of blood. It was horrifying, yet breathtakingly beautiful at the same time. The girl's reflection upon the surface of the sea was crystal clear, not faltering to the ripples waving through it.

"But most importantly, remember this name."

The girl in black elegantly raised her hand and snapped her fingers. With the sound of the snap echoing through the ocean for what seemed like an eternity, Taijin's heart suddenly began to beat at an incredible, unnatural force. He was sweating intensely, and his vision began to blur. Collapsing under the pressure that he felt coming from nowhere, Taijin fell to his knees helplessly as the girl approached him. She graciously strolled across the water, and leaned in to his ear. Taijin was petrified, and was frozen in fear as the girl whispered to him an unfamiliar name.

"Kirami. Kirami Hatake."

"Wake up, Taijin."

Kosetsu woke up the sick boy, who was in the bed of his dorm room after an eventful night. It was nearly noon, yet the blinds blocked any light from entering the room. His eyes flickered as the gentle, emotionless voice called out to him.

"E…eh..."

"So you're awake at last."

Taijin sat up, and scratched his head violently. He thought to himself

"Geez, what a seriously messed up dream…"

About to get out of bed, he noticed another girl's head leaning on his lap. He slowly sat up, careful not to disturb her. Stuttering, he murmured

"M-Mina?!"

Kosetsu put her hand on Taijin's shoulder, gesturing him to move quietly.

"Don't worry so much about her. She just passed out waiting for you to wake up."

They both leaned over her, and admired her innocent sleeping face. Despite being so ridiculously active and hyper all the time, she slept soundly. Covering half of his face with one hand, Taijin gently rotated his body to face Kosetsu

"What happened last night?"

"You lost consciousness in the middle of the battle. We abandoned the battle and brought you home."

"You abandoned the battle?! But what about-"

"Don't be a retard. You think we can just keep on playing while our housemate, let alone operator, passed out on the floor? Besides, even if we did, we would eventually run out of ammo without our operator to supply us."

Taijin sighed in disappointment. He redirected his gaze to the sleeping girl next to him. Her long, red hair was covering her sleeping face. Noticing Taijin's attention to Mina, Kosetsu giggled to herself approvingly. After a short period of silence, Kosetsu questioned Taijin about the events happening yesterday

"So, why did you pass out?"

Upon hearing the question, Taijin instantly let out a long sigh. He put his palm on his cheek, and gave Kosetsu a worried look.

"If I knew, I wouldn't be failing Gunpla Battle class. It happens to me all the time when I play gunpla battle."

Kosetsu's eyes flickered with illumination. Her gaze turned from curious to serious, and began to further question Taijin.

"Ever since the beginning?"

"Yeah, from my first ever gunpla battle."

"But it's only when you play gunpla battle right? You don't randomly pass out on a daily basis right?"

Kosetsu was firing question after question, making it more like a formal interrogation rather than a friendly conversation. She blankly gazed into Taijin's eyes, which were weary and drowsy after a terrifying nightmare

"'No…I don't think."

"So when you watch it in television or something it doesn't matter right? It's only if you're actually physically there right?"

"No. It's just when I'm playing gunpla battle."

Kosetsu smiled, and whispered to herself

"Like I thought..."

She reached out her arm and grabbed his shoulder. She gave him a warm, reassuring smile

"Don't worry. I know what's going on. It's the plavsky particles inside the gunpla battle machine. They do something to the bodies of certain people who are sensitive to the plavsky particles. And you just happen to be one of those people."

With a confused look on his face, Taijin asked

"Hey, are you sure you know what you're talking about?"

Kosetsu giggled at him once more.

"Idiot. Of course I know. I was one of these people too."

After staring at each other for a few seconds, Taijin returned the favor by laughing wildly at Kosetsu's response. Despite the loud laugh, Kosetsu remained unfazed, and Mina was oblivious to the entire event.

"You have got to be joking right? There's no way you and I are the same. I was barely able to stand in front of the battle machine yesterday while you were there cutting the enemy zaku's up with your pimped up exia as if they were butter!"

"I didn't say I'm like you. I said I _was_ like you. Now can I finish my explanation?"

Taijin snickered at her, and crossed his arms. Kosetsu coughed, and resumed her elucidation of the situation.

"Well there isn't a lot more to say. Scientists have been researching this for ages, but they haven't found anything yet regarding the Plavsky particles. PPSE won't say anything about the entire subject. For some reason they've been keeping their lips extremely tight about the entire situation. The only response that the public has gotten is that the plavsky particles may have some unexpected side effects on some people, but that's about it."

Taijin wasn't surprised at all by that remark. He knew that PPSE, despite being ridiculously famous for inventing gunpla battle, has several conspiracies. Why did they not apply the plavsky particle to other industries? Why are they so secret about the production of plavsky particle? He disliked PPSE's lack of communication with their fan base, and their extremely undisclosed policies.

His father had several cases on PPSE, being a world-famous super detective. However, each time he would come back empty handed. He even considered breaking into PPSE's battle system factory to see what they've been hiding so desperately the whole time. But without special permission given by the government and his superiors, PPSE owned land is a forbidden area to enter. It doesn't take a world class detective to figure out that something is up with PPSE.

"The scientists have temporarily dubbed this as Plavsky Particle Disorder before they can know what's up for real. Like I said they've been looking into people like you for ages and they still have no idea why some people can spend hours playing gunpla battle whereas others can barely stand in front of the machine. It's an extremely rare case that someone has Plavsky Particle Disorder though, they say that the chances are just one in one hundred million."

Taijin began to shake nervously, as Kosetsu noticed the fear in Taijin's eyes. She sighed, and picked up the pace on her explanation

"The community have called these kind of people "Pilot errors". Basically people like you who can't play gunpla battle. It was believed for a long time that pilot errors would never be able to win a gunpla battle against a regular pilot, and that they would never be able to recover from the unfortunate disorder. But this isn't true at all."

Kosetsu gently placed her hand on Taijin's shoulder, which was still quivering in fear. Her warm palm eased the trembling, as he looked her in the eyes

"Three years ago there was a girl who was diagnosed with Plavsky Particle Disorder. She was a pilot error. But after about six months of continuously losing to her classmates, she seemingly overcame the disorder. One day she stepped onto a battle machine and operated it as if she was never affected by it- destroying her surprised classmates. After that moment, she went on a winning streak that she still hasn't lost to this day, and she is known as the first Pilot esper – named the god esper"

A hint of confusion could be seen in Taijin's look of fear. As if reading through the situation completely, Kosetsu added onto her explanation

"Yeah, Pilot esper. Apparently that's the name that the community dubbed for the people who were formerly Pilot errors but overcame the disorder. The name is pretty misleading though, no powers are gained through suppressing the disorder. It's just the community's way to congratulate those who fought through it by calling them espers..."

Taijin's trembling grew weaker and weaker as the explanation continued. His breathing patterns began to regulate, to the joy of Kosetsu.

"So what are you trying to tell me?"

Gently placing her hand on Mina's sleeping head, she smiled at Taijin.

"You've been to this school for how many years?"

"Four"

"And in all four of those years you had to play gunpla battle?"

"Yeah"

After gently patting Mina's head, Kosetsu stood up and strolled towards the door. Her silky cream hair fluttered as she turned around to him before leaving the room.

"Meet me downstairs in two hours. We are going to the hobby shop. There's a certain friend I have who I think you need to meet."

Closing the door gently as to not awaken the sleeping girl, Kosetsu left the room. Sighing, Taijin looked at Mina, who was still sound asleep on his bedside. Her eyes began to gently flicker, as she leaned away from Taijin's lap

"T-Taijin..."

Rubbing her eyes, she yawned wildly. As she stretched freely, Taijin, blushing and stuttering, reached out to Mina

"H-hey. Mina. Did you fall asleep here?"

Mina's face was bright red, as she energetically turned away from him

"You freaking idiot. I was so worried. Making such a mess in an event like the gunpla fiesta. Idiot."

"Hey – hey … no need to call me an Idiot... Please don't go all Tsundere on me…"

Her faced continued to grow redder, until it reached its peak as the word "tsundere" was uttered. She rapidly turned to Taijin, who was still in bed, and proceeded to yell at him

"IDIOT! WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING CALLING ME A TSU-"

Reluctant to say the next word in the sentence, Mina abruptly stopped yelling at the poor boy in bed. She halted her verbal assault on Taijin, and began to walk to the door. As if she had a complete changed in mood, she turned around and casually asked Taijin

"By the way, we are all going to the hobby shop in 2 hours right?"

In a panic, he hastily responded

"Eh? You heard that? I'm sorry, that must have mean we were too loud… I must have woken you or something…"

"No, I just woke up at the last minute."

Before she left the room, Mina gave Taijin a few last words

"In future, if that ever happens again, wake me up when you do, just like you did today. That pat on the head felt really nice."

Closing the door, Taijin was left to himself. He uttered

"But it was Kosetsu who patted you on the head…"

Leaning on the corridor, Taijin was waiting for Mina and Kosetsu. He was wearing a red shirt and black pants, carrying his rarely used GP base with him. His eyes were weary, and he felt like he would rather stay home. Getting some more sleep instead of going to an area with another gunpla battle machine despite what happened yesterday. The very idea of going was absurd. Just thinking about it, he let out a huge sigh.

"We're not going to play gunpla battle necessarily. I'm just bringing you to meet a friend"

As if reading his mind once again, Kosetsu reassured him of the situation as she walked down the stairs. She was wearing a black banshee shirt and a Sinanju printed skirt. She had the black gunpla holder strapped to her belt, and she was carrying her GP base in her hands.

"Hey…do you have the ability to read minds or something?"

"No, I don't. Carrying that kind of expression around, anybody can tell what you're thinking."

Kosetsu's calm yet impacting delivery of her response shook Taijin to the core. She continued to walk towards him, and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. I was once like you too. Naturally I'd be able to tell what you're thinking- at some point I was thinking the exact same thing. I used to hate gunpla battle too. But I just need you to trust me on this. Now let's go"

Kosetsu put on her char colored sneakers as she prepared to exit the building. Taijin, who was seemingly convinced with Kosetsu's explanation, sighed heavily as he followed her out of the front door.

The two highschoolers were standing in front of a large building after a short 15 minute walk. At first glance it seemed like one of those high class stores that sell overpriced jewelry. The walls were painted a clean white, and there were double sliding glass doors that led into the building. But upon closer inspection, there were glass cases that were displaying gunpla, and a banner containing the words "Masaka Hobby Shop"

Shocked at the building before him, Taijin was rather reluctant to enter. He froze on the spot at the face of the overwhelming store.

"Hey…is this really a hobby shop? This seems like a restaurant for royalty…"

Completely ignoring Taijin's lack of movement, Kosetsu calmly strolled into the store. Turning around, she intimidated him with her usual emotionless voice.

"Are you coming or not?"

The building's interior was just as polished and classy as the exterior. There were three air conditioners keeping the room cool at all times, and several shelves were lined with gunpla boxes. There were display cases of refined gunpla in the corner of the room, and the counter was neat and tidy.

Behind the counter, there was a large, muscular man wearing an apron with the logo of Masaka hobby shop. He was in his mid 30's, and had black hair and a beard. Noticing the two new customers, he leaned over the counter and called out to them in a friendly voice

"Yo, what can I do for you?"

Kosetsu responded in her blank voice as Taijin proceeded to wander off to the display cases of gunpla, wanting to inspect their quality.

"We're just here to meet a friend."

As if remembering something, the man let out a large gasp. He then walked around the counter, and proceeded to walk towards Kosetsu, who joined Taijin in admiring the exhibited gunpla.

"Could it be? You're Kosetsu?"

Reacting immediately to hearing her voice being called out by someone she doesn't know, Kosetsu turned around and instantly questioned the man's intentions.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?"

Instantly threatened by the little girl's interrogation, the man put up his arms and stopped dead in his tracks. He closed his eyes to avoid Kosetsu's terrifying yet emotionless stare and he began to laugh nervously

"Haha…I heard a lot about you from Mina just now. She told me about you, and how you destroyed so many zakus as if they were nothing. If what she says is true, you're one of the best players to transfer here in recent time"

Releasing her prisoner from her vicious stare, Kosetsu returned to observing the qualities of the gunpla being displayed. The man added onto his explanation

"I'm Masaka, the owner of this shop. Nice to meet you Kosetsu."

Leaning over to see Taijin, Masaka redirected his attention to the boy carefully inspecting the gunpla

"And this boy is…"

"Approximately 9 nub marks visible on entire model. Painted over using an airbrush. Minor details likely applied using gundam marker. Must have taken around a week to complete this High Grade Gaia Gundam…"

Placing her hand on her face, Kosetsu sighed at Taijin's lack of awareness for the situation. As if speaking for him, Kosetsu responded

"He's Taijin. Taijin Sakamoto. He's a pilot error."

The man stared at Kosetsu as if she were crazy. He sighed heavily, and scratched his beard.

"Hey…are you sure? You do realize what you're saying right…and how ridiculously rare pilot errors are?"

"Of course I do. I'm a pilot esper."

Intensifying the stare, Masaka continued to gaze into her eyes. After a short, silent staring contest, he burst out into an unstoppable wild laughter.

"Hahaha! You're hilarious... Look at him! Usually pilot errors hate gunpla and here he is inspecting them as if he were an expert! You seriously want to believe that he's –"

"I do hate gunpla battle."

Interrupting his speech, Taijin responded quickly and brutally after hearing a comment that implied that he liked gunpla battle. The thought of him enjoying gunpla battle drove him to insanity. How could he enjoy something that can easily drive him unconscious?

Sensing the drastic change in atmosphere, Masaka instantly stopped laughing. He bowed his head down, and apologized for his inaccurate statement.

"Gunpla battle robbed me of my entire life. I would never like it. But don't worry about it – it's not like you knew all of that"

"Well, I think I've said too much. I'll be heading back to work. I'll be at the counter if you need me."

As Masaka proceeded to walk back to his counter, Mina, Grind and Mitsuo bursted out of a double door in the back of the room and walked towards Kosetsu and Taijin – gleefully talking about gunpla battle as they did. Noticing the trio approaching, Taijin called out to them

"Hey guys! What's up?"

Mitsuo, noticing Taijin calling out to them, responded loudly and clearly.

"Nothing much man! Just heading out of the battle room after some intense training from Grind. Man, that guy's training is harsh…"

Completely ignoring Mitsuo's comment on his training methods, Grind rushed up to Taijin and patted him on the head. He had a large, cheerful smile on his face, as the last time he saw Taijin, he was unconscious.

"Man, glad to see you're up and going already! Mina told us how you've been all morning!"

Blushing at the comment, Mina raced up in front of Taijin and violently shook his shoulders – trying to hide her flattered expression.

"Nevermind that, look look look!"

She held up an A4 poster, advertising an event for the school. Taking the poster from Mina's hands, Taijin began to read the information off of the poster out loud.

"Raizen High exclusive, five man gunpla battle tournament. Form a team of four players and one operator and compete for awesome prizes. Takes place on May 1 until May 3 – It ends a week before school starts again. Champions get 3 years' worth of gunpla, a dorm makeover and a secured spot in one of two of the school's all-star teams, second place gets 2 years' worth of gunpla as well as a dorm makeover and third place gets 1 years' worth of gunpla. Top 5 teams all get credit from school. Sign up now, Raizen students exclusively."

Grabbing Taijin's head, Grind excitedly yelled out to him

"We should totally join this! I mean, it's during the holidays, so what harm is there in going?"

Adjusting the angle of his glasses, Mitsuo cleared his throat, and added

"The extra credit would be useful too. You don't want to drop out of school because of gunpla battle class, right Taijin? Then join us."

Shocked at the comment from Mitsuo, Taijin refuted immediately

"You guys are kidding right? You saw what happened yesterday! I could barely stand in front of the machine let alone participate in a tournament! Sure the extra credit is nice and all…but at this rate I'll just be deadweight if I join…"

Kosetsu leaned over his shoulder, and reassured the group.

"Don't worry, leave that bit to me. I'll be sure to help this hopeless pilot error out."

Grind scratched his head, unconvinced of the idea. Mitsuo coughed and adjusted his glasses, looking away from Taijin. With a confused look, Mina tapped Kosetsu's shoulders.

"Tai-Tai is a pilot…error?"

Grind and Mitsuo exclaimed in surprise.

"E…EH?!"

"What…It's not like he faints in front of battle mach-"

Cutting her sentence off midway, Mina abruptly went quiet. She looked downwards to the floor… and rubbed her chin as if she were in deep thought. An awkward silence ensued amongst the entire group, as everybody watched Mina lost herself in her own train of thought. Suddenly, Mina broke the silence by screaming energetically

"AHHHH! HE'S A PILOT ERROR! HOW COULD I NOT HAVE KNOWN?"

The entire group exploded in an awkward laughter as they watched Mina react to her moment of realization. Taijin laughed along nervously – although Mina's grades are top notch, she acted like an alien. How could she not have noticed him avoiding gunpla battle machines and fainting whenever he had to operate one? Breaking the awkward situation, Kosetsu stepped forward and reassured every one of her plans.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of him"

Although her tone of voice was always the same, the group could sense an unbreakable confidence behind those words. Mina smiled at her optimism, approving of her willingness to help out Taijin. Mitsuo, concerned for the success of the recovery treatment, asked Kosetsu

"Hey…are you sure this will work? Like, do you have any experience treating pilot errors…?"

"Nope."

The entire group fell into another silence. With their jaws dropped onto the ground, the group sighed depressingly. Grind placed his hand on his face and scratched his nose

"It's hopeless…"

Mitsuo chipped in on the brooding, as he took of his glasses and began cleaning them with his school uniform

"How will Taijin enter the tournament like this…?"

Kosetsu tilted her head with an innocent expression, confused as to why the atmosphere has suddenly changed from hopeful and excited to depressed and fatalistic.

"I don't have any experiences taking care of pilot errors. So I called in a friend who does."

Right after Kosetsu uttered those words, a long, black limo stopped in front of the store. Exiting from the limo were two, tall male butlers, who opened the car door with a noble gesture. A young girl left the car, and walked towards the store entrance.

She was accompanied by the two butlers, who were loyally by her side. She was wearing a long red skirt and a white shirt. Her long, blonde hair swung as her butlers opened the door into the hobby store. Noticing the group of people as she walked in, she calmly snapped her fingers, dismissing her butlers back into the limo. Kosetsu, aware of her presence, turned to face her, and greeted her with a smile.

"Thank you for coming, Cindy."

The girl responded in a calm, contained yet energetic voice. She spoke in an accent of a noble, which differentiates her from any other girl in the city.

"Any time you like, Kosetsu. So, which one is it?"

The group, excluding Kosetsu, was staring at the girl in shock as she quickly looked at everybody. Mitsuo, putting his glasses back on, once again questioned Kosetsu regarding the plan

"So…She has experience treating pilot errors?"

After hearing those words, the girl made a quick rebuttal as she quickly marched right into Mitsuo's face. Intimidatingly, she roared

"Just who do you think I am?!"

Clearly shaken by her aggression, Mitsuo, stuttering intensely, backed off and responded

"I-I-I don't know…"

"Cinders Elizabeth La-Nicole Graham Heathers. Cindy Heathers for short."

Stepping in to stop the rising tension, Kosetsu added on to Cindy's introduction

"She was my best friend before I moved to Raizen. She helped my issue as a Pilot error and turned me into a Pilot esper."

Mina rushed up to Kosetsu and violently shook her shoulders after hearing those words. Her eyes were tearing up from joy, yet nobody understood why

"You too! You were a pilot error too?! WHY AM I NEVER ABLE TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN PILOT ERROS AND NON PILOT ERRORS!? WHY MUST FATE BE SO CRUEL!?"

Gently pushing her away, Kosetsu answered

"I was one. Now I'm not. Thanks to Cindy"

Surprised at Kosetsu's shocking revelation that she is a pilot esper, Grind scratched his head and commented

"Incredible… I couldn't even tell. Cindy must have did a good job – Kosetsu fights as if she were normal"

Taijin stepped forward, and identified himself to Cindy, who was scratching her head trying to figure out who she was meant to be helping out.

"Excuse me, I'm Taijin Sakamoto. I'm the pilot error among the group."

Contrasting with her violent assult on Mitsuo, Cindy gently spun around and gave Taijin an illuminating smile.

"Nice to meet you Taijin. I'm Cindy. I'll be working with you over the next few weeks."

Kosetsu tugged Taijin's shoulders as he smiled back to Cindy's pleasant introduction.

"Let's go, Taijin"

"Eh?"

"Well we aren't going to get rid of your pilot error tendencies here, right? We are heading off to her mansion."

"EH?!"

Mitsuo, who took the poster from Taijin, read it through thoroughly.

"Hey, make sure you guys are back next week. I'm going to submit the form okay?"

Rushing in energetically, Mina shouted loudly.

"WAIT! WAIT! WE NEED A TEAM NAME!"

"That's right…let's all think of one together"

Standing around in the shop, the group all brainstormed together several team names, ranging from Dogs of Jaburo to Doodoogun. Everyone contributed several ideas, yet none of them seemed to stick, or not every person would approve of the name. After nearly 20 minutes of getting nowhere, Taijin created the foundation for a brilliant team name"

"Hey, we are dorm C1 right? Why can't we just name ourselves team Dorm C1…this is a school event after all"

Mina instantly denied the name right after hearing it, exaggerating it with an X hand gesture.

"No way! That name is never going to stick! Imaging the MC's saying "congratulations, dorm c1" that would be the most anticlimactic award ceremony of all time!"

Grind added onto the idea of naming the team after the dorm.

"It would be pretty cool if our team name tied to the dorm name of C1. After all, that's where all of the team members live, right?"

Sensing that the conversation is headed somewhere, Mitsuo continued Grind's idea and expanded on it.

"Maybe, like, some sort of hidden secret or something. Like how you take some letters from the periodic table and you can make funny stuff"

Kosetsu's eyes shone brightly as she had a great idea of what to name the team.

"Carbon. We should be called Team Carbon. After all, C is carbon on the periodic table."

Everyone in the room nodded to the idea. Mitsuo already grabbed his pen and began filling in the team name on the registration form

"A fundamental element to sustaining human life… I like it. Team carbon."

Mina laughed as she nodded, giving Kosetsu two thumbs up.

"Team Carbon huh? It almost sounds like car bun. I love buns and I love cars!"

Grind smiled at the group as everybody laughed and smiled at the new name.

"It will stick too. We'll never forget. After all, we live in dorm C1…"

Taijin clenched his fists together as he smiled at everybody in the group.

"So it's decided. Team Carbon is our name."

Everybody smiled at the new name. Mitsuo completed the application form, folding it up and putting it in his pocket. Cindy folded her arms and gleefully watched everybody sink into idle chatter.

"So when is this tournament you all need to attend?"

"Well it starts on May 1st…"

"Brilliant, we have a lot of time to work with."

Pulling out a large, expensive gold-plated phone from her pocket, Cindy marked on her calendar the day of May 1st. Looking towards Taijin, she declared

"From today, Kosetsu and Taijin will stay at my mansion. We'll be in charge of treating Taijin's pilot error. We'll be back before May 1st."

Mitsuo and Grind nodded in approval, and Mina scratched her head, replying

"Can't be helped I guess…I guess this is for the better of Team Carbon. We'll reunite soon!"

Outstretching his fist into the center of the crowd, Taijin smiled at the members of the soon to be Team Carbon. Catching onto what Taijin was trying to achieve, everybody outstretched their fists to meet Taijin's. Reluctantly, Kosetsu sighed and joined in as well. As everyone leaned in towards each other, Taijin yelled

"Team carbon on three! One, Two, Three!"

Energetically, everybody threw their hands into the air, roaring

"TEAM CARBON"  
-

Leaving the building and walking towards the limo, the 3 high schoolers began their trip to Cindy's mansion. Suddenly stopping for a bit, Taijin asked Kosetsu a question that had been bothering him for a while.

"Hey Kosetsu"

"Yes?"

"You mentioned that the first ever person to overcome this pilot error thing was this one girl, right?"

"Yeah, 3 years ago. That would make her about as old as us right now. What about it?"

"How good is she?"

Sensing the arrival of a subject that she was very knowledgeable about, Cindy contributed to the conversation by adding on her information about the first pilot esper

"She's probably one of the best if not the best current players around. Unfortunately she disappeared from the competitive scene after PPSE made the rule where people have to compete in teams. It has been said that she has yet to suffer from a single loss ever since she overcame pilot error. She's truly terrifying."

Gulping, Taijin, who was overwhelmed with curiosity, continued to ask more about the girl. Cindy, without hesitation, continued to explain all she knew about the girl.

"The red and black dress that she wears is absolutely iconic. Her fighting style is elegant yet brutal, or so I've heard. The last time she was in the competitive scene she used a custom version of the O gundam, but then again nobody has seen her in 3 years. There's very little information about her…she's done a very good job suppressing her location. The god esper, the black and red eyed queen of gunpla battle."

Taijin's eyes widened in fear as he realized who Cindy was talking about.

"Kirami Hatake."


	5. Flight

April 30th 6:00 AM – Dorm of C1

Mitsuo, Grind and Mina were having breakfast, as usual. Today they decided to have a normal breakfast – a simple bacon and eggs. Poking the food that was placed in front of her, Mina sighed. "Hey, today is the day before the tournament, right? We haven't gotten word from Tai-Tai or Kosetsu at all… are they going to make it back in time?"

Mitsuo adjusted his glasses and gave Mina a stern look.

"Have some trust in them will you? Taijin's working hard to overcome his disorder so he can fight alongside us. We can't disappoint them by having them return without making any adjustments to our gunpla. Right, Grind?"

Hearing Mitsuo reference his name, Grind put down his fork and knife, and turned to face him with a smile.

"Yeah. Hopefully we should be finished modifying our gunpla by the end of today. We've got to make sure that they are ready for some intense battles."

Without warning, Mina stood up from her seat, with her unfinished breakfast still in front of her. She pointed at Grind, and started cheerfully shouting.

"Wait a second! With Grind on our team, how will we lose? You're the best gunpla fighter in our grade, right?"

Grind sighed at the statement that Mina presented.

"I'm the best in our grade, sure, but this isn't between our grades. This is a whole school event. And amongst the whole school, I barely make it into the top 10."

Adding onto Grind's explanation, Mitsuo wiped his cheek which had some egg white on it with a tissue.

"We can't forget about the big name teams as well. Enflamed Quintet, last year's champion, will also be attending."

Raising her eyebrows, Mina gave Mitsuo an incredibly confused look.

"Enraged internet? Isn't the internet always enraged? I mean people on there are always so angry"

Face palming and sighing at the same time, Mitsuo watched as Grind laughed at Mina's comment. Correcting her, Grind said

"Not enraged internet. Enflamed Quintet. One of the three teams that went to last year's international qualifiers, and last year's champion for this annual tournament."

Adjusting his glasses, Mitsuo elaborated

"Enflamed Quintet isn't the only team we have to worry about. There's other big names attending the tournament besides them, like Hollow Tortoise, Sober Dance and Quiver. If we want to place in the tournament, we are going to have to do some serious modifications to our gunpla as well as a whole lot of training"

Mina giggled gleefully as she sat down on her seat again.

"Enflamed Quintet? Sober Dance? Like I thought, we should have named ourselves Doodoogun".

She continued eating as if oblivious to what happened, and after her first bite, she looked at the group, smiling.

"In all seriousness though, that's what we've been doing the whole time, right? Training hard."

After taking a large sip out of his orange juice, Grind reassured the group of their hard work.

"That's right. I've seen Mina's gunpla. It's improved significantly. Both in terms of gunpla quality and pilot performance. Yours too, Mitsuo."

Mina smiled and Mitsuo coughed to Grind's words. Picking up his empty plate with him, Mitsuo stood up and began to walk towards the sink.

"Let's keep at it as to not disappoint them when they return. It would suck if they returned to find out that we hadn't done anything to our gunpla."

* * *

May 1st 9:00 AM – In front of Raizen High's battle arena. 1 hour remaining before tournament begins.

The school battle arena was an entire separate building to the school's main building. It was larger than the school's soccer field, and was two stories tall. Inside the building, several octagonal battle machines were set up, all surrounding one much larger battle machine made of dozens of smaller ones connected to each other. There was a balcony inside the building, so people could witness the gunpla battles from above. There was even a commentator and caster room on the second floor, as well as several LCD screens scattered all about the room. Benches and stands were set up all around for spectators, both on the first floor for an on stage view and the second floor – which is mainly reserved for competitors who wish to watch their teammates in battle.

In the building there was a corridor that had several smaller rooms for competing teams to rest and strategize. Inside one of these several rooms, Mitsuo, Mina and Grind desperately whipped out their phones to contact their missing teammates.

"It's no use. I can't contact Tai-Tai or Kosetsu."

"Geez, you guys said you would be back by now…yet…"

"We should wait patiently for them to arrive. There's still an hour left after all."

The members of Team Carbon waited patiently for their missing members to arrive. Ten minutes past, and then twenty minutes past. The stands quickly filled up with spectators and there were technicians flocking about checking the quality of the battle machines.

Sitting down on one of the couches in the room, Grind crossed his arms and stared at the ceiling. Mina closed her eyes and frustratingly scratched her head. Mitsuo was leaning against the wall, where he could hear the loud chatter of several spectators already in the arena.

"Please make it in time."

Suddenly, a voice came booming out from the speakerphones inside the private briefing room.

"All teams, please listen closely – the rules will now be explained for the first day of the interschool battle tournament."

Shaking in anxiety, the three members of Team Carbon turned their attention to the loudspeaker mounted on the wall. They listened as an energetic male voice boomed through the speaker.

"As you may have noticed- there is no skill requirement for entering the tournament. Therefore, the elimination shall be harsh in order to remove the weaker teams. The day will consist of three rounds – with each round opening up opportunities for teams to earn points. By the end of this first day, only the top 50% of teams shall be permitted to enter. So after today, only 30 of the 60 entered teams shall be permitted to move on and attend the next stage of the tournament."

Gulping, Mina leaned in closer to the speaker, still shaking nervously.

"The first round, which shall start in ten minutes, is a four person free for all round. One person from each team, which will be randomly selected, shall enter into a battle against three other competitors from different teams. Operators will back up the pilots as they fight to survive. The last gunpla standing earns 4 points, the second to last will earn 3 points, the third to last will earn 2 points and the first gunpla to be destroyed will only earn their team 1 point."

Mitsuo took of his glasses and begun cleaning its lenses using his shirt. He looked towards Grind, and recommended

"If it's a free for all between four people, it would be a good idea to send out someone who can last a long time against several gunpla at once. Therefore, I think it would be a good idea to send you out first"

Grind responded with a sigh.

"Didn't you listen? They said the pilot would be randomly selected. It's not like we have the luxury of choosing who to go first."

Standing up hastily, Mina realized something vital.

"Wait! If it's randomly chosen, what do we do if they pick Kosetsu? She isn't here! We might even be disqualified!"

"I wouldn't worry so much. It's just a one in four chance that that happens."

After a loud screech, the announcer's voice came booming out of the speakers once again.

"I would like to invite the first four pilots to enter the stage with their gunpla please. Matt from team Yoen, Renta from team Luzim"

Grind admired the voice, and smiled upon hearing the announcer's words.

"Already pulling out some good players huh? Matt and Renta are pretty good!"

The sound of a piece of paper turning could be heard as the announcer continued to read off names.

"Spencer from team Enflamed Quintet-"

The entire stadium burst into incredible cheering and hooting after hearing that name being called out by the announcer. Even hearing it in their private room, Mitsuo commented

"Well it seems like Matt and Renta are in trouble. A member from Enflamed Quintet. They may be good, but spencer might be a bit much"

Grind added onto the comment, talking louder than usual to overcome the cheering from outside

"I've fought Spencer a few times, and I know for a fact that he's a force to be reckoned with."

After a few dozen seconds, the cheering died down and the announcer resumed the name drawing.

"And finally…Kosetsu from team Carbon!"

The entire room filled up with silence after Kosetsu's name was called out. Drowning in their depression, Grind swung his head downwards and let out a huge sigh.

"We're screwed."

"Sooooory we're late!"

A familiar voice could be heard coming from behind the door. Swinging it open violently, Taijin, Cindy and Kosetsu stormed into the room confidently, each of them carrying a single briefcase. Taijin was wearing a back strike noir shirt, which fit well with Kosetsu's red astray shirt. Cindy wore a grey tuxedo, with a celestial being logo on the back of the jacket. Waving to her concerned teammates, Cindy led Kosetsu and Taijin into a corner in the room.

"We just had a bit of stuff to take care of."

Grind, panicking, rushed up to his late teammates.

"Kosetsu, no time to explain, you have got to go now and –"

"I heard the rules and everything on my way in. Don't worry."

Trying to give his teammate some advice and strategy, Grind placed his hand on Kosetsu's shoulder

"Just stay alive after defeating Matt and Renta. Don't play too aggressive, forget about first place. Its spen-"

"What are you talking about?"

With Grind being unable to comprehend Kosetsu's cold and emotionless voice, he felt as if she didn't understand the situation. He gritted his teeth and held himself back from shouting as Kosetsu gently removed his hand from her shoulder.

"I'm going. Taijin, follow.'

Carrying the briefcases with them, Taijin and Kosetsu rushed out of the room, approaching the stadium, leaving Cindy in the private room with the members of team Carbon. Curious about the results of training, Mitsuo gave Cindy a curious look, and asked

"So? Did it work?"

Cindy gave him a wink, and begun walking out of the room.

"Well, you'll see."

Noticing the lack of movement from her teammates, Cindy turned around and gave Grind, Mina and Mitsuo a confused look.

"There are spectator stands upstairs reserved for us players. You guys coming?"

* * *

The spectators in the stands that surrounded the arrangement of battle machines roared as the competitors approached the large machine in the center that was composed of several other smaller machines. Once the pilots and their respective operators stood on their respective positions, the MC's voice could be heard booming from surround sound speakers set up all around the room.

"We will now begin the first match of the Interschool Raijin high gunpla battle tournament!"

The crowds exploded in applause as yellow celling lights rotated around the room, and after a few seconds of aimless wandering, created a spotlight on the four teams present in the battle area. Standing on the second floor spectator area, the members of team Carbon watched eagerly and Kosetsu and Taijin began to enter the stage. Tapping the microphone to ensure that it's working, the MC began introducing the competitors in his energetic voice. All of the lights shut off, leaving only a single yellow light shining above one of the players. He had bright red hair and a scar on his cheek, wearing a green zaku 2 jacket. Behind him was presumably his operator, who was a young black haired man wearing the cosplay of a gundam seed archangel crew member.

"On the side of team Yoen, please welcome Matt! His fighting style has been acknowledged as one of the most aggressive in his grade! Will he wipe out the competition in the first minute? Assisted by operator Brendan, this combination is not to be underestimated."

After the lights resumed shuffling around the room, it landed again on another player standing on the battle arena, with blonde hair and yellow eyes. He wore a white tuxedo with a Londo Bell pin attached to his jacket, and behind him stood a brown haired student in the same grade, who wore a white base cosplay.

"The representative of team Luzim, Renta, enters the stage! His patience perfectly complements his skills for a passive and defensive play style. He might outlast his enemies with the backup from operator Remi!"

As the lights resumed flickering, the crowd went wild as they eagerly anticipated who would be introduced next. As the spotlight shone on two competitors who were standing in front of the battle system, the crowd erupted in excitement. One student was bald, and wore a red Sazabi shirt with black pants. He also wore a red jacket, with an emblem of the number 5 stitched onto it, with details of fire and embers on it. Behind him was another student, who had shiny waxed blonde hair that shone under the spotlight. He also wore the same red jacket, that covered his white strike gundam t-shirt and black pants.

"Representing the returning champions, team Enflamed Quintet, here is Spencer! He proved last years that he is among the top players in the entire tournament, and with some assistance from the famous operator Apollo, he might be able to walk out of this match victoriously!"

The crowd's cheering died down as the lights began to shuffle around the arena once more. As the spotlight landed on Kosetsu and Taijin, the entire stadium was rather quiet to witness the newcomers that have entered the tournament.

"And last but not least, we have Kosetsu, representing team Carbon! This is their first appearance in any semi-competitive / competitive tournament, but with help from their operator Taijin, they might walk away with the team's first victory!"

The large LCD screen on the back of the room, as well as the multiple wall mounted televisions started to light up as the crowd cheered passionately. After a deep breath, the MC screamed into the microphone, prompting everybody to cheer even louder.

"Let's get this first round started!"

The large battle machine in the middle of the room began to activate as the robotic voice called out

"Please set your GP base."

Kosetsu reached into her pocket and pulled out the GP base. Stretching her arm and locking it into position, she turned back to Taijin.

"We went over it. Remember your training and we'll pull though this."

Despite the blatant lack of emotion in anything Kosetsu said in her cold, empty voice," Taijin felt an unbreakable confidence. He smiled back at her reassuringly as light blue particles started rising from the machine. As it begun to surround the competitors and set up the stage, Taijin closed his eyes and breathed in. The spectating members of Team Carbon watched closely as Taijin stood unfazed in front of the gunpla battle machine.

"I-Incredible…"

Seeing a chance for a clever remark, Cindy placed her hands on Mina's and Grind's shoulder.

"I know I am, right?"

They smiled at Taijin from above as they witness firsthand the shift from an error to an esper. More blue particles began rising from the machine as its monotone, robotic voice rung out.

"Field 1: Space"

Inside the machine was a beautiful replica of what outer space would look like in the gundam universe. There were several floating asteroids and broken satellites, as well as unreachable planets displayed in the distance.

"Please set your gunpla."

The LCD screens observed the gunpla of all the competitors as they were placed onto their stands. The MC inspected each gunpla closely, and announced to the audience what kind of machines would be entering battle.

"Matt of team Yoen has placed a customized Geara Doga onto the field! Its gorgeous construction as well as its custom beam javelin will ensure we will see a promising performance from team Yoen! Renta from team Luzim has placed a beautifully customized abyss gundam, complimenting his defensive playstyle! The armor and features of the Abyss gundam will go hand in hand with Renta's playstyle!"

As the screen displayed the gunpla of Spencer, the crowd once again roared in excitement.

"Pulling out the big guns right from the start! Spencer's custom Chaos gundam is the gunpla that is sent out by team Enflamed Quintet! Those custom parts, those shoulders taken from the heavy arms custom! Enflamed Quintet want an early victory, and they want it badly."

Placing her gunpla onto the stand, Kosetsu smiled confidently at the gunpla she plans to enter battle with. Taijin looked at it and smirked as well, whispering to himself

"Boy, you are stubborn."

Kosetsu reached down, and pulled out one of the black briefcases she was carrying with her earlier. She unlocked it, and upon opening it, an incredibly polished, yet familiar gunpla lay in the center. She took it out gently, and placed it on the stand. The LCD screens panned over to Kosetsu's gunpla, allowing the MC to analyze its features. Upon its appearance on the screen, the other members of team Carbon instantly smiled. Grind scratched his chin, as he commented

"Heh. So she's using that gunpla"

"The gunpla set forward by team Carbon is a … beautifully customized Exia! With that incredible blue pearl paint job and flawless construction details, this seems like a gunpla fit for display! And those twin GN swords mounted on each hand, We are going to see some offensive play from team Carbon this time around!"

Taijin leaned in towards Kosetsu, with a few strands of his hair phasing through the walls of blue plavsky particles that separated operator and pilot.

"Hey, is it really alright? I mean, you made that gunpla from the spare parts in my black box to prove a point, you don't really have to take it all the way here…"

Not turning back to meet his curious gaze, Kosetsu responded

"It's perfectly fine. I've touched up the gunpla a bit, so it's still pretty powerful."

The MC tapped his microphone, and began counting down energetically. The spectators also screamed out, and joined in on the countdown.

"Three! Two! One! GO!"

With that cue, all of the gunplas lauched out, as their respective owners gave their operators the cue.

"Matt, Geara Doga Halberd. Off I go!"

"Renta, Armored Abyss. Here I come!"

"Spencer. Chaos Bullet. Coming to kick your ass!"

"Kosetsu. Sapphire Exia. Heading off."

As soon as the four gunplas left their hangars, the crowd went wild as they all approached each other in the battlefield of space. Within just seconds, the operator of Matt furiously called out.

"WATCH OUT! DODGE!"

In a split second, the Geara Doga was cleanly sliced in half from the torso, exploding into incomprehensible pieces. With the explosion blocking the vision of the attacker, the MC began to commentate the events of the battle as the remains of the gunpla floated around aimlessly in space.

"W…what madness! Just in seconds, Matt's Geara Doga has been destroyed! The explosion has blurred out the attacker for now, but telling by that aggression, skill and speed, it's likely that the attacker is Spencer of Team en-"

The MC cut his comments short as the explosions began to fade away, slowly revealing a gunpla clad in pearl blue, whose green eyes shone in the fog of the explosion. Its long GN sword was drawn on its left hand, while still retracted on its right. Recognizing the gunpla, the MC called out

"No way! Yoem has been taken out by Kosetsu of Team Carbon! Incredible!"

Amongst the cheering of the crowd and the commentary from the MC, Taijin called out to Kosetsu.

"Two missiles coming in from the left!"

Reacting to Taijin's warning just in time, the blue machine stretched out its arm, and a blue energy shield expanded from its wrist. The energy shield took two direct hits from the missiles, and the shockwave from the missile cleared out the smoke created from the destruction of the Geara Doga, revealing the attacker to be Renta of team Luzim. The abyss gundam threw away its missile launcher, as it pulled out a beam saber and charged towards the Sapphire Exia. Sighing, Kosetsu whispered to herself

"After witnessing what just happened, you honestly want to go close combat with this Exia?"

Charging towards the Abyss gundam at blazing speeds, with a swift rotating of the waist, the GN sword sliced right through the Abyss gundam, cutting it clean down the center. A trail of blue was left behind as the Exia dashed away from the explosion of the Abyss gundam. Practically speechless, the MC spoke on the microphone

"I-Incredible! Taking out their opponents swiftly and quickly, Team Carbon is taking this first round by storm!"

Kosetsu snickered, and the Exia rotated around, pointing its blade at the Chaos Gundam that met its eyes. Taunting, she called out to Spencer

"How long do you intend to watch? Too scared to go in?"

Unshaken by Kosetsu's taunt, Spencer responded in a booming and confident voice.

"Enflamed Quintet are the returning champion of this tournament, the kings! We shall not dirty our hands doing peasant work"

Pulling out a modified beam rifle mounted on its back, the Chaos gundam began opening fire on the Exia, firing dense red beams. With the trigger being spammed, Kosetsu had no choice but to blaze around the arena, dodging the shots.

"Like I thought. You're really fast. In that case-"

By rotating the plavsky orb controllers and selecting a special option, the modified shoulders of the Chaos gundam opened up, revealing hundreds of missiles. Spencer smiled, as he commanded

"Track and Hunt! Fire, my missiles!"

A large cloud of steam shot out from the Chaos Gundam's shoulders as thousands of missiles headed at incredible speeds towards the Exia. Kosetsu was completely unfazed, whispering

"Taijin."

As if reading her mind, she received a response immediately.

"Already on it!"

The Exia turned tail and retreated from the missiles as Taijin opened his briefcase and set a blue winged flight unit on the operator launch pad. It shot furiously out of the launching pads, and headed in the same direction as the Exia. Noticing the support machine, the Chaos gundam began to open fire on the blue plane.

"That's not a skygrasper or the O raiser. You must have made a custom machine just for this."

As the red beams flew by the jet, Taijin performed several aerial maneuvers in an attempt to avoid the several beams fired right at him.

"But it doesn't matter how good it is if it's destroyed in an instant!"

Making a swift U turn behind an asteroid, all of the missiles hit the space rock instead of the Exia. Seeing an opening, Taijin called out to Kosetsu as the Jet approached the Sapphire Exia.

"Kosetsu! Now! Docking!"

The jet's head folded over as it approached the Exia, revealing a large circular slot. The GN drive of the Exia fit flawlessly into the spot as the two machines combined, and the wings from the jet rotated and became the Exia's, giving the illusion of a beautiful blue angel. Taijin called out

"Synchronization with the flight booster complete! It's all yours!"

The Exia accelerated at a near instant rate, quickly out speeding the beam shot. Leaving behind a trail of azure particles, the Exia drew both of its GN swords as it charged quickly at the Chaos Gundam.

"As if I'd let you do that so easily!"

Spencer reacted quickly and reached for his beam saber, but the intense speed of the Exia cut off its arm as it reached behind to the beam saber holder. Evading the speeding Exia, the Chaos Gundam seemed to have escaped certain destruction – while on the other hand the Exia was headed at blazing speeds straight for an asteroid. Spencer smirked.

"Your speed is incredible. But that's all meaningless if you can't control it!"

"Who said I couldn't control my speed?"

Using the asteroid as a trampoline, the Exia's heels smashed right onto the asteroid, bouncing right back up straight towards the Chaos gundam again at perfect trajectory. At intense speeds, the Chaos Gundam had lost both of its legs before Spencer even realized it.

"W-What is this?!"

The Exia was once again headed towards another obstruction, once more using it as a trampoline, heading right back to the Chaos Gundam for once final slash.

"My gunpla can't keep up! What the!"

The entire room fell quiet as the Chaos Gundam was cut clean in half by the Sapphire Exia's GN sword. As the gunpla floated broken in space, Kosetsu reached out through the plavsky particle walls and gave Taijin a passionate high five.

"Good job operator. Couldn't have done this without ya."

As those words were uttered, the Chaos Gundam exploded, prompting the audience to go crazy in cheering. The roaring could be heard from outside the school as the plavsky particles began to evaporate.

"Battle Ended"

The MC screamed at his microphone energetically as Kosetsu and Taijin reached out for their machines, as the other fighters pitifully gathered what was remaining of their gunpla.

"TALK ABOUT FIRST IMPRESSIONS! IN THEIR FIRST GAME IN THE TOURNAMENT, CARBON HAS DEMOLISHED THE COMPETITION, EVEN DEFEATING THE FORMER CHAMPIONS!"

Grind, Mitsuo and Mina were cheering energetically from the stands, with tears flowing out of their eyes. Cindy watched and cried as well, as she watched Taijin stand fearlessly in front of the plavsky particle machine. With the LCD screens focused on Kosetsu and Taijin, the MC roared

"THE WINNER OF THE FIRST MATCH IS KOSETSU AND TAIJIN FROM TEAM CARBON!"

* * *

Standing on the very back of the spectator area, a young girl observed the plavsky particles fade as the two combatants from Team Carbon walked away victoriously. She appeared much younger Kosetsu and Taijin – she was two grades below. Her ruby eyes glowed a scarlet red, and she had long silver hair. She wore a plain white collared shirt and black pants – and she stood out as the only participant who did not wear any sort of gundam merchandise. Like every other combatant, she had a black gunpla holder box strapped to her waist.

She was standing alone, glaring at the event from afar. A black haired boy, carrying a soda along with him, approached the girl. He was the same grade as her, and he wore a blue jacket and orange pants. He raised up his hand, as if asking for a high-five.

"Sup, Yuu? What're ya doing up here all alone? Join the rest of the team down there"

As if she didn't acknowledge the boy's very existence, she continued to glare down at the stadium – in particular Kosetsu and Taijin. Noticing her eye contact with them, the boy assumed her feelings.

"What is this? Masato Yuu of Hollow Tortoise is actually worried abou-"

"Shut it."

Cutting the boy's sentence short, Yuu abruptly ended the conversation, not even looking at the boy. Laughing nervously, he attempted to reassure her.

"Don't worry. You're the ace of our grade. Tied for second best of the entire school. There's no way you'd lose to a newcomer team like Carbon."

He reached out to her, intending to pat her on the shoulder. Predicting his movements, Yuu swiftly stretched out her arm and brutally smacked his hand away. She gave him a vicious glare.

"I thought I told you to shut it."

The boy sighed, and scratched his head as he witnessed Yuu resume her glaring at the members of Team Carbon

"I wish you'd take a bit more pride in yourself. Even though you're so good at this, you go out of your way to avoid Gunpla Battle. I don't get it. You should be confident and strong! You're here at the tournament after all!"

"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm only here for the extra credit that the top five teams get. I don't care where I place, as long as it's at least fifth"

"Man. What a waste of potential…you know Yuu, I really think with your skills, first place isn't a dream. You should aim higher."

Ignoring the boy completely, Yuu began to walk away from the boy, towards the exit of the stadium. Accepting the fact that she has no intent of starting a conversation with him, he called out

"Make sure you're back here in an hour! Hollow Tortoise will be playing at game number 4!"

She continued to walk away, not giving any gestures that she heard what the boy said. She quietly cursed to herself

"Screw gunpla battle."

* * *

On the other side of the stadium, another team watched eagerly as Kosetsu and Taijin walked away triumphantly. A male competitor with short cut black hair and light brown skin smiled keenly. He cargo pants and a black shirt, which was partially covered with his Earth Federation Army jacket. He adjusted his glasses as he turned around to face his four teammates.

"Did you watch that, you guys?"

Whining lazily, one of the team members, a boy with long blonde hair wearing a green shirt and gray pants, responded to his question.

"Hey, Raul? Does it even matter? Whether we watch it or not, as long as you're here we're probably bound to place at least 3rd…"

Another blonde teammate stepped forward, elaborating on the previous teammate's statement. Judging by their nearly identical appearance, it was very likely that these two were siblings or even twins.

"Yeah, James is right! You're tied for 2nd place in best gunpla fighter in the entire school! The great Raul Machado! Quiver is a team that will definitely place this year."

Turning around abruptly, Raul swiped his hand dramatically as he lectured his team.

"James! John! A GM does not enter a battlefield alone! Only when all units are in position are they allowed to proceed! That team...Team Carbon. Did you not feel it? Their hearts. Their hearts were raging as they destroyed their opponents. Like a powered GM ramming down a poor Zaku II. They may be newcomers, but they are also potential threats to the throne."

Worried about the long monologue given to them by the captain of the team, and guilty for their words earlier, James and John proceeded to sit themselves back down again. They joined Raul in observing their competitor from afar, staring at Kosetsu from afar.

A female member of the team stepped forward, walking towards Raul. She had long turquoise hair tied into twin tails, and she was wearing a white shirt and black pants.

"If it comes down to it, I hope you won't hesitate to use it, Raul. We might need it in order to win."

Hearing the word from his comrade, Raul smiled to himself confidently. He whispered

"GM Striker. You might get to see the light of day soon."

* * *

"Hey, Yuta? What did you think?"

Another team closely observed Kosetsu's and Taijin's victory, standing in front of the spectator stands. In particular, a male student with disheveled brown hair wearing a slightly old, torn jacket smiled as his murky green eyes watched the members of team carbon walk away from the battle machine.

"They have potential. They certainly do. We're going to have to move carefully or else Sober Dance won't place this time around."

A young girl who was spectating with them walked up and tugged his jacket. She wore a neat school jacket that covered a green Zaku II shirt. Her short brown hair waved as she asked

"Hey…Yuta. In all seriousness don't think you should be worried. You're tied for second best in the entire school, after all."

Yuta threw his arms up in the air as he looked up towards the ceiling of the indoor stadium.

"It's so weird isn't it? For three people to somehow have the exact same win to loss ratio to have a three way tie for second place, and for all three of these people to end up in separate teams. Not that I really care that much though, like my three tarantulas all sharing one big food bowl. There's room for everybody."

He continued his monologue as the ceiling lights gently reflected onto his eyes. Under the white light their green hue seemed to shine like deep pools.

"Besides Hollow Tortoise and Quiver, we've got Enflamed Quintet to worry about as well. And as if that wasn't enough, out of nowhere this Team, what's it, Carbon, comes out of nowhere and destroys everybody in the first round. What a pain…"

He turned around and began to walk away, gesturing his team to follow him

"Not that it matters though. We're going to try our best."

* * *

The bald, member from Enflamed Quintet returned to the stands, with his gunpla in shreds packed into his small gunpla holder mounted on his waist. He was greeted with several hostile stares as he entered the territory of his own team. He bowed his head down upon making eye contact with them.

"I am truly sorry for my horrendous performance. I will strive to-"

"It doesn't really matter. You could say it's not your fault. Your opponent was unexpectedly powerful."

A girl wearing a Hakama stepped forward and comforted the bowing man. She had long, black hair and brown eyes. She was careful about her posture, maintaining a straight back and gently folding hands. She had a tattoo on the back of her hand – which was identical to the emblems which was on Spencer's jacket. She reached under her seat, and pulled out a large black case – similar to the ones Taijin and Kosetsu had. Spencer looked up towards her, and panicked instantly

"No! You can't go! The best gunpla fighter in the school can't show herself so early! It's a sign of weakness!"

"The best team in the school has just been shunned after that performance. We need to remind everybody of where we stand. Of where the kings stand."

After uttering those words in her calm voice, she closed her brown eyes and sighed. After a few seconds of silence, she opened them again slowly, revealing a beautiful chestnut shine.

"I'm going"

* * *

Author's note:

I'm sooooo sorry that this chapter is late T.T life has just been kicking me in the butt lately, so unfortunately i couldn't get this chapter out on time for you guys. Sorry! *bow*

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Special credit goes to the creators of the OC's whose characters made their debut in this chapter! You'll see more and more of them as the story progresses! You guys are awesome! ;)

Gundam Build Fighters Ash and Snow chapter 5 - Juggernaut will be released on June 29 ( it will be on time ;))

Have a nice day!


	6. Juggernaut

Walking back into their team's private lobby after an overwhelming victory, Kosetsu and Taijin were greeted with several passionate hugs from their hyped teammates. Mina started jumping up and down as she energetically screamed out

"You guys were amazing! Oh my gosh!"

Grind added onto Mina's praise, also smiling gleefully

"You wiped out Enflamed Quintet in the first round! The freaking returning champions have a chance that they won't make it into the second day! This is a big deal!"

Cindy tapped Taijin's shoulder as the group was tightly huddled together.

"That was incredible! I'm so proud of you!"

The entire group's attention shifted to Taijin, and his mysterious fighter booster that helped win the entire match. Grind tapped the suitcase that the fighter was in, and smiled at Taijin

"Welcome to our team, Pilot Esper."

Mina rushed forward to him, curious about his rapid development – but even more curious about the support machine

"Where did you get that booster, Tai-Tai? Don't tell me you custom-made it?!"

Taijin sighed at Mina's disbelief, and confirmed her doubts.

"Yeah, I made it myself. It's called the Flight Booster. I think what it does is pretty self-explanatory"

Folding his arms while taking off his glasses, Mitsuo commented

"Well when it docked with the Sapphire Exia, its speed almost tripled. To be able to create something like that in such a short period of time, dude you're amazing!"

Taijin turned to Kosetsu and looked at the suitcase she was holding. Noticing his curiosity, Kosetsu brought up the suitcase and began to unlock it as Taijin added onto Mitsuo's comments

"Well, it took me quite a while to make this.

"It's not just the booster -That Sapphire Exia is pretty amazing too. Even though it's extremely melee oriented, you left the battle without a single scratch on it."

Opening the gunpla and closely inspecting it for any damages, Kosetsu began to explain her ridiculously aggressive play style to the rest of the team in her usual monotone voice – as if the overwhelming victory had no effect on her emotionally

"Well the thing is that speed is this gunpla's defense. The faster you go the less likely enemies will be able to hit you. Of course in emergencies the energy shields on its wrists will activate but other than that…"

Noticing a disturbing fact, Grind leaned in towards the Gunpla in Kosetsu's hands and asked her a question that had been bothering him for a long time.

"Hey, are you sure that this is okay? I mean this gunpla is basically made from Taijin's scrap parts, I'm pretty sure it would be better I-"

"I like this gunpla"

Cutting Grind's sentence short, Kosetsu expressed her unbreakable love for the gunpla through her emotionless and monotone voice. Seemingly reading the passion in her tone, Grind sighed and dropped the subject immediately. Mitsuo tapped the black gunpla holder on his waist, eager to enter battle.

A loud screech came from the speakers in the room, grabbing everybody's attention.

"The first battle has been completed, and congratulations to the winners, Kosetsu and Taijin from Team Carbon. Now, the second battle shall begin"

Nodding to everybody in the room, Grind began to walk out of the room.

"We've got to watch our competitors. After all, information is crucial if we want to win."

Leaving the room and shutting the door, Grind left the room as the names for the next round were announced. The rest of the team began to follow as well, except Kosetsu, who was kneeling down and gently placing her gunpla back into her black suitcase. Noticing her absence, Taijin peeked behind the door and called out to her

"Hey, you coming along?"

Focusing on her flawless positioning of the gunpla, Kosetsu responded to him without even making eye contact with him. It was obvious she was absorbed and fascinated with her own gunpla.

"I'll be right there. You go ahead first."

* * *

Waking out of the door alone, a certain figure caught Kosetsu's eye as she headed towards the spectator area. Stopping in her tracks, she turned around, to see a female student standing behind her. She had long black hair and brown chestnut eyes, but most strikingly she was wearing a red Hakama. Upon meeting eyes, she smiled at Kosetsu, who responded with her usual clueless gaze.

"It is nice to meet you, Kosetsu Yukimura."

She spoke elegantly and fluently, carefully watching every word she spoke. Her tone suggested that she was of high ranking, and her careful posture and gestures also supported that theory.

"I am Elisa Ayumi, the captain of Team Enflamed Quintet."

The introduction caught Kosetsu's attention, and her clueless gaze turned serious. Sensing her hostility, Eisa bowed her head gracefully, with her hair swiftly swinging downwards as she did.

"I would like to congratulate you for defeating spencer in the first battle. It was an excellent battle."

Kosetsu stood there speechless as Elisa lifted her head and began to walk past her. She stopped dead a few paces past Kosetsu, and the two girls were back to back. Elisa smiled confidently, and spoke in a soft, gentle yet threatening voice.

"But don't try an overthrow the kings. Enflamed Quintet will win."

* * *

Walking up to the spectator area on the second floor, Kosetsu found the team leaning over the window eagerly watching the next battle commence. As the gundams flew past each other in the battle area, Mina's eyes flickered with enjoyment as she tried to commentate to herself the events of the battle.

"And then greeny goes BANG BANG BANG and then the yellowy is like uh no you didn't so he's like BOOM and POW but he missed so greeny was like oh yes I did…"

Kosetsu noticed another student besides Mina also following up on her comments. He was an older male competitor with messy hair and a slightly old and torn Jacket. His eyes shone a dark emerald when reflected against the white lights of the ceiling. Kosetsu tried to remember if she knew him, but he had no memory of meeting anybody like him whatsoever during her short time here.

"But then that guy was like Hey don't leave me out but the others were like well too bad this is between us"

Taijin sighed as he tried to make sense of the two's incomprehensible commentary. Turning to his left, he noticed Kosetsu approaching, and gave her a friendly wave, which she eagerly returned with her own. With a confused look, Kosetsu asked Taijin

"Hey, that guy next to Mina. Who is"

"He's Yuta Kitano! Second best gunpla figher in the grade!"

Interrupting Kosetsu mid-sentence, Grind was quick and eager to introduce him. Yuta, eavesdropping on them, turned around to face the group, and as he did he towered above everybody. His green eyes of emerald met Kosetsu's eye of Sapphire, and with a single glance they could tell that the both of them were incredible gunpla fighters.

"Yo, Kosetsu was it? I watched your last game, and damn you were good. That finishing attack when you bounced all around the asteroid was just excellent."

Kosetsu was untouched at the compliment given to her. Sensing that he was missing something, Yuta let out a nervous laugh as he introduced himself.

"Ah, silly me, I forgot to introduce myself. Yo, I'm Yuta Kitano. Two grades above you and captain of team Sober Dance."

Mina instantly abandoned her silly commentary and turned around to face the group as well. She smiled gleefully and patted Yuta on the back, although she had to do it tiptoeing due to his towering height.

"Yuta here is what you can call my senpai in gunpla battle! He teaches me stuff I thought I would never find out myself – exactly what you would expect from the second best in the school, and the team captain!"

Having a moment of realization, Kosetsu rapidly turned to Taijin, ignoring Yuta's wholehearted self-introduction.

"Who is the captain of Team Carbon?"

The entire group fell quiet as everybody was stunned by the sudden question. Yuta laughed to himself quietly as everybody rubbed their chins. Mitsuo adjusted his glasses so that they reflected the white ceiling light, blocking his face.

"Well at this point let's just all be equal in rank. When the time comes where we need a captain we'll just nominate someone at the last minute."

Hearing footsteps approaching from the right, Taijin rapidly turned and caught a female competitor approaching him slowly. She was wearing a plain white shirt which camouflaged her long silver hair – and the fact that she was allowed on the second floor meant that she was a competitor as well. The girl walked up to Taijin, and whispered to him.

"I saw your last battle against Spencer."

Taijin smiled at her, trying to dismiss the atmosphere of hostility that had dominated the group when she arrived. The girl's emotionless and cold voice showed that his silent attempt to create peace may have failed.

"Yuu Masato, Captain of team Hollow Tortoise. That's all you need to know about me for now."

"Taijin Sakamoto, Operator of te-"

"I know."

Kosetsu could sense the cold yet aggressive aura that Yuu was emitting. She watched silently as Yuu cut short Taijin's sentence, only to follow up with one of her own.

"Aren't you a pilot error?"

"I was. Now I'm –"

"So you actually bothered, huh."

Yuta noticed the girl who was now inside the group, and called out to her with a friendly and inviting tone.

"Hey, Yuu-chan! My little girl!"

"Call me that again and I'll kill you."

Aggressively dismissing Yuta's polite request to talk to him, Yuu continued her one on one conversation with Taijin.

"I don't get it. You should have used the disorder as an excuse to stop. You hate gunpla battle, don't you? Why do you even bother…?"

"The only reason I hated it was because every time I went near it, it drove me unconscious. Now that that doesn't happen anymore, I don't –"

"I see."

Yuu began walking past the group, not making eye contact with a single person. She stopped dead in her tracks, as a certain cream haired member of team Carbon blocked her path. Noticing and acknowledging her presence, Yuu's ruby eyes and Kosetsu's sapphire ones made eye contact, and they were locked in a staring contest for a few seconds. Breaking free from her cold, vicious gaze, Yuu side stepped and continued walking. With her back turned to her group, she let out a few last words.

"Well, you guys seem promising enough to give me a decent fight."

As she walked downstairs towards the team private lobbies, Yuta let out a sigh. An unfamiliar voice called out to the group in the same direction in which Yuu arrived.

"Don't worry about her."

Another large male student with short black cut hair came in from inside the stands. He had an earth federation army jacket and cargo pants, and he walked towards the group in a calm, soldier like march. His glasses reflected the light as he stood in front of his group with his arms folded, capturing their undivided attention.

"I'm Raul. Raul Machado. Captain of team Quiver. And do you guys want to know an interesting fact?"

The entire group leaned in toward Raul and nodded their heads together, as if they synchronized the timing without even speaking.

"Me, Yuta over here, and Yuu Masato - the girl who walked past you. We three are locked into a three way tie for second best gunpla fighter in the school."

The group exclaimed loudly as the shocking fact was suddenly thrown at them. Yuta nervously laughed while scratching his head as the members of team carbon had their jaws dropped onto the ground. Kosetsu thought to herself quietly

"When Yuu walked past me, and also when I first saw Yuta, I could tell from the first glance that the skills of these guys tower above any other pilot we have ever faced before. Not even Spencer had this kind of terrifying aura. I didn't know this school had so many powerful fighters…"

Suddenly, Raul raised his arm and pointed toward the sky, posing as if he were some pop star on stage. He roared

"The GM is the greatest grunt unit of all time! Now think of any two letters in the alphabet and tell me the first two that come to mind, go!"

Instantly after Yuta asked the group his confusing question, Mina made a very strange squeaking sound, followed by her response

"U and W! Because they make triple U!"

Grind scratched his head, and after a few seconds of thought gave Yuta his answer

"Probably N and D. No real reason why."

Mitsuo coughed instantly after Grind's answer, and he followed up with his own.

"H and R"

Yuta turned around from the spectator window, noticing the commotion going on. He caught onto the subject quickly, and hastily threw in two random words of his own.

"A and E"

Taijin sighed at the group's eagerness to answer the obviously pointless question. He tilted his head towards Kosetsu, glad that she hadn't been captivated by the ridiculous problem.

"S and Y."

Kosetsu answered in her usual emotionless voice, prompting Taijin to give himself a large, painful sounding facepalm. As if he didn't notice that Taijin had yet to give an answer, Yuta roared out

"Fools! The GM is the greatest grunt unit of all time! Did you think you had a choice? The correct answers were G and M! None of you got it! Grind! Mitsuo! Mina! You guys are forgiven – as you have G's o M's in your name! As for Kosetsu, Taijin and Yuta! Rethink your strategy!"

Everybody in the room stood silently at the ridiculous judgment from Raul. Grind, desperately trying to brush away the subject, waved his hands nervously and tried to inspire the team.

"Well at any rate, let's just do our best. We don't know what's going to happen from here on out, but since we're here we might as well give it our all."

Energetically nodding, Mina added onto Grind's uplifting statement with some motivation of her own.

"There's no reason for us not to win! We've got Grind! We've got Kosetsu! We've got Cars and Bons! We got this!"

The team burst out into laughter after Mina's ridiculous statement, and smiles were present on everyone's face.

* * *

After several intense battles fought by dedicated pilots, round one had finished after a whopping 1 hour and 20 minutes. Resting in their room, the members of Team Carbon eagerly awaited the next announcement that would come from the speakers in the room. After 10 minutes of silence since the last battle had been fought, a large screech came from the speaker, prompting everybody to turn their attention to the speaker. After a few taps on the microphone the MC's energetic voice was booming through the microphone once more.

"Thank you for your patience, we are back! After some amazing fights, round one of three is finished! For those of you who didn't do so well in this round, it's perfectly fine, there are two more rounds to redeem yourself!"

The team leaned in on the edge of their seats as the MC began to explain the rules for the next round.

"Round 2, which will commence in 15 minutes, is a round of reverse tag – or juggernaut for some. Allow me to explain the rules."

The LCD screens lit up, and a sky blue background was set, with little animations to assist in explaining the rules as they came along.

"One battle shall contain 10 fighters, one from each team. This time, the team is free to choose which fighter will participate. The way that the game works is that a randomly selected fighter amongst the 10 shall become the "juggernaut". What differentiates the juggernaut from the other players is that the juggernaut is responsible for holding onto an unusable beam saber. The juggernaut is also unable to use any kind of weapon, so forget those beam rifles! The objective of the game is to last as long as you can as the Juggernaut. To steal the role from the current juggernaut, the beam saber must be stolen – or you can just blow them up and the person with the last hit will become the new juggernaut. The longest times as the juggernaut shall earn the team more points! The time limit for each game is 10 minutes!"

Grind scratched his head as he processed the abnormal game through his head, trying to absorb all of the information tossed at him by the MC.

"So basically, it's a game of defense huh. How long can you last against every other player without using weapons?"

Mitsuo crossed his arms and entered a state of intense thinking, trying to form possible strategies for the team. He looked across to Grind, who seemed to be in the same state of mind.

"So wouldn't it be smarter to send out someone with high defensive capabilities?"

Realizing a flaw in Mitsuo's suggestion, Mina scratched her head, and informed the team

"No, that's no good. If someone's too defensive, they won't even get a turn as the juggernaut until the game is nearly over. It's about the longest time, remember!"

Taijin stepped forward from his seat in the room, and energetically reminded the team of one of their cards in their sleeves

"If you combine any gunpla with my wing booster, their speed will increase dramatically. We should take advantage of that and send out a more balanced, but slow gunpla."

Scratching his chin, Grind muttered

"So that knocks out the super offensive Sapphire Exia…If she becomes the juggernaut her twin GN blades will mean nothing since weapons can't be used."

Mitsuo stood up and tapped the black gunpla holder mounted on his waist. Startled by his sudden actions, the team gave him several confused looks.

"In that case, I'll go. My gunpla isn't the fastest, but that won't matter with the flight booster. Besides, it's also got a lot of defensive and offensive abilities."

Grind winked at Mitsuo, and gave him an energetic thumbs up.

"Alright then. Mitsuo, Taijin."

Taijin looked at Mitsuo, who was also looking back at him. They nodded at each other in perfect sync, much to everybody else's admiration. Taijin reached down to his briefcase, unlocked it and pulled out the blue winged jet. He turned it around and began to disassemble it. Concerned about the questionable actions of Taijin, Grind asked

"H-hey….what are you…doing?"

"Mitsuo's gunpla doesn't utilize the same kind of back connection as the Sapphire Exia, so I have to change the connector or else we won't be able to dock"

He took out a rectangular piece from the jet which had a circular hole – which fit though the Sapphire Exia's GN drive perfectly – and replaced it with another rectangular piece. After packing up the booster back into the briefcase, Mitsuo and Taijin smiled at each other confidently, and walked towards the room exit together. Grind stood up from his seat as well, and followed them out, calling back to the remaining members who were still in the room

"Let's go! This is a battle we won't want to miss!"

* * *

As Mitsuo walked onto the battle arena, the crowd happily cheered him on as Taijin followed along. As they walked up the platform towards the large battle machine the crowd suddenly exploded into cheers and applause – much louder than they had cheered before. Confused at the sudden outburst of enthusiasm coming from the audience, Taijin looked around curiously, and he noticed an elegant yet intimidating figure approaching the opposite side of the battle machine. Recognizing her immediately, Mitsuo scowled and whispered to himself

"I didn't expect you to be playing so early…Elisa of team Enflamed Quintet."

The MC quickly caught onto the rising applause of the audience, and his voice boomed through the speakers scattered across the giant arena.

"She's here! SHE'S HERE! The captain of the strongest team in the history of Raizen High, Elisa Ayumi, has shown herself to be participating in the second round!"

Mitsuo, who was shaking nervously, called out across the room to Elisa, attempting to taunt her.

"What's wrong? It's unusual for you to be sent out so early? Could it be that you're nervous of your new competitor?"

Completely unaffected by Mitsuo's taunt, Elisa smirked and responded back to Mitsuo, in a calm, controlled voice

"No. It's just that some vermin have shown themselves and they think they can overthrow the Kings. I think we need to remind people that we belong on the throne, and you belong among the peasants"

Taijin immediately recognized the objective behind sending Elisa out so early, and he whispered to himself

"It's an act of intimidation…"

Trying to warn Mitsuo, he quickly turned towards him, only to see him shaking even more furiously than before. He had already begun sweating, some of it crawling down the lenses of his glasses. Taijin reached out to him and patted him on the shoulder, causing Mitsuo to jump up hastily, as if woken up from a bad dream.

"Don't be intimidated. That's exactly what they want. We have to keep confident and do what we can- even if it isn't first place."

Mitsuo nodded, and reached down into his pocket and pulled out the iconic GP base. He held it in his right hand, and his trembling calmed down as time went on. With no indication beforehand, the MC's loud voice boomed through the speakers, prompting the start of the second round.

"LET THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE SECOND ROUND BEGIN!"

As the applause from the large crowd downstairs started to rise, the remaining members of team carbon watched from the private spectator area above. Grind sighed heavily at the grim situation for his team.

"What kind of misfortune is this…to be randomly selected against Enflamed Quintet two times in a row…"

"Please set your GP base"

Mitsuo reached out his hand and inserted his GP base into the corresponding slot, making it light up blue and displaying the official PPSE logo. Light blue walls of plavsky particles rose from the ground around the pilots and operators, surrounding them in a transparent octagonal cage.

"Field 3: Forest"

The plavsky particles within the main machine began to dance around elegantly, changing color from a light blue into a much more natural darker green. The small particles began to group and clump up, forming beautiful realistic models of trees, rocks and rivers.

"Please set your gunpla."

Mitsuo reached into his black holder and pulled out a unique mobile suit. It was mono-eyed, and carried with it a large shield as well as what seemed like a beam naginata. It also had a beam rifle mounted on its back, with several adjustments made to both the weapons and the armor of the gunpla. Noticing the unique selection of gunpla, the LCDs screens brought up the mobile suit as the MC began to decode and inspect the qualities of the gunpla that Mitsuo had put forth.

"This is a…beautifully modified version of the Gelgoog! With several custom armor pieces and the custom beam rifle, this gunpla packs a lot of offensive and defensive capabilities!"

The LCD screens suddenly switched to another gunpla that was being put onto the launching pad, which was much more worthy of attention. It was undeniably one of the most beautiful and flawless gunpla that had been put forth into the competition so far, and the MC did not hesitate to highlight its remarkable qualities.

"This is the one we've all been waiting for! The legendary custom gunpla of Elisa Ayumi! The Crimson Legilis gundam! The originally skeptical and unique design of Gundam Age's Legilis gundam has been completely revamped with new armor pieces, a new head and a longer, bendable tail made up of several smaller pieces! With a beautiful red color scheme, those who were present in last year's tournament are fully aware of the power that this gunpla can dish out."

As all of the gunplas were locked into the launching pad, the lights in the control system of the pilot which was formerly red turned green – signaling that everything is in order and the battle is ready to commence. Without hesitation, the MC shouted

"Let the second round begin!"

With the cue from the MC , all of the gunplas rushed out from their launching pads into the lush green battle arena of the forest. The tall, realistic trees only came up to the hips of most gunplas as they landed on the forest. After a few uneventful seconds, the robotic voice of the gunpla battle machine spoke to all of the competitors.

"Juggernaut selected"

A beam saber hilt materialized from plavsky particles, and fell onto the ground right in front of Elisa's Red Legilis. The crimson gunpla slowly bent down and picked up the beam saber, prompting the voice of the battle machine to speak again.

"Juggernaut activated. Weapons locked."

As the gunpla slowly bent up again after picking up the beam saber, several other gunplas were charging at it, beam sabers activated and swinging violently. An astray red frame rushed up to the Legilis, swinging his katana carelessly. A simple dodge from the Legilis rendered the astray's attack completely meaningless, with the Astray clumsily tripping over a rock as it rushed past the Legilis. With a swift and accurate spin kick, the Legilis tore apart the lower body of the astray, causing the upper body to crash into the ground, breaking several plavsky trees in its path. The pilot of the red astray could be heard in the arena panicking intensely.

"W…what! No way!"

A customized Zeta gundam in black and purple colors swung its beam saber at the Legilis, hoping to cut it in half clean in the middle. The red gundam noticed the movements from the Zeta and ducked elegantly, causing the beam saber to cut the air right above the Legilis' V-fin. Noticing an opening to attack, the Legilis suddenly sprung up from it's downed position to perform a devastating uppercut to the Zeta Gundam. The uppercut was so powerful that the head of the Zeta gundam flew right off, leaving its body to collapse lifeless onto the floor. Bored of the pathetic attempts to take down the juggernaut, Elisa roared out to the competitors.

"You guys might want to come all at once instead of once at a time. That would be pretty smart."

A lightning fast Kyrios gundam dashed towards the Legilis at full speed in flight mode, intending to stab the gundam with its own body. Its pilot could be heard calling out in a rash, violent voice.

"Don't tell me what to do, woman!"

Reacting just in time, the Legilis outstretched its right arm, and with a long rotation of the hips, it swung its arm fiercely as the Kyrios was about to hit, backhanding the jet and breaking the gunpla into pieces. The broken fighter separated into incomprehensible debris and exploded in the background. Up on the spectator area, Kosetsu watched closely as the Legilis easily disposed of three gunplas without drawing a single weapon. The entire group watched speechlessly from above. The MC, absorbed in Elisa's unbelievable performance, roared right into the microphone.

"Incredible! Unbelievable! Surreal! Without using any weapons, Elisa's Crimson Legilis has eliminated three competitors, staying as the juggernaut for more than two thirds of the entire match! With just five minutes left in the game, what will happen to our remaining competitors?

Noticing every other competitor getting wrecked in close combat, Mitsuo called out to Taijin

"Taijin. Docking!"

"You got it!"

The Gelgoog which had been hiding in the trees had jumped out, as a blue jet came flying in from the skyline. The red Legilis stood and watched as the nose of the jet bent downwards, and began to dock with Mitsuo's custom Gelgoog. Noticing a suspicious lack of movement, Taijin whispered to Mitsuo.

"Hey, this is weird. Why is she just letting us dock like this?"

"Who knows? Maybe she's confident that she can take us on either way?"

A bulky Virtue gundam that stood behind a far distance behind the Legilis had stood still and aimed his beam cannon straight at the red gundam for the past five minutes. Elisa, noticing the Virtue gundam's confidence in its stealth, called out to its pilot from within the battle.

"Hey, Virtue pilot. Did you really think I didn't notice you charging up?"

Startled by her comment, the Virtue gundam immediately released the Giant beam cannon straight at the Legilis, with 5 other gunplas, including Mitsuo's in the line of fire. The Legilis made a large sidestep to the right, dodging the massive white beam that rushed through the battlefield, reducing 4 unprepared gunplas into inconceivable scrap metal. Mitsuo, noticing the beam just in time, managed to zoom right out of its line of fire with the help from the speed of the Flight booster.

"Thanks Taijin! If it weren't for your booster, my Gelgoog would have been dead!"

Elisa mentally counted in her head the amount of opponents that remained, making her Legilis standing immobile in the center of the battlefield.

"Ehm, the astray, the Zeta, the Kyrios and those 4 that just blew up make 7. There are 9 excluding me, 9 minus 7 is 2. But the virtue's cannon has just been fired, so he's basically useless for the rest of the game. So that leaves…"

The Red Legilis gunpla slowly turned towards Mitsuo's blue winged Gelgoog, and the two pilots exchanged looks across the battle machine. Elisa taunted Mitsuo once again, with her voice booming across the stadium.

"What's wrong? There's only a single minute left till the end of the battle, and I've been the juggernaut since the start!"

Agitated by her comments, The Gelgoog spread its pearl blue wings, and drew its naginata. It charged straight at the Legilis at full speed. Taijin, noticing a fatal flaw in Mitsuo's angry strategy, attempted to inform Mitsuo.

"Hey! Calm down! We'll never win in close combat! You saw what happened to the others, right!"

Mitsuo yelled furiously in response

"I KNOW!"

As the Legilis outstretched its right hand with the deactivated beam saber to counter the beam naginata swipe, the Gelgoog made an incredible 90 degree turn, and headed straight into the sky. Noticing the remaining time left in the battle, the MC began counting down the clock.

"Only 30 seconds remain!"

As the Gelgoog soared straight into the sky, the red Legilis waited patiently on the ground, not moving a single bit. Elisa smiled to herself in her control panel.

"20 seconds!"

Mitsuo's Gelgoog rapidly tossed the beam naginata downwards, and with assistance from the physics of gravity, the beam cut cleanly through the outstretched arm of the Legilis upon its decent.

"10 seconds!"

The Gelgoog then turned around and activating all boosters, began zooming downwards at uncontrollable speeds

"5 seconds!"

Mitsuo's machine slammed violently into the ground, yet it landed on its two feet with its wing's outstretched.

"3 seconds!"

Grabbing the severed arm of the Legilis, the Gelgoog forcefully tore out the deactivated beam saber from the iron grasp of the Legilis

"1 second!"

The mechanical robotic voice spoke out of the machine as the beam saber hilt slit into the palm of the Gelgoog

"Juggernaut switched. Weapons locked"

As the beam extruding from the Naginata began to fade away into nothingness, the loud horn that came from the speakers signified the end of the round. The MC roared into the speakers once more as the plavsky particles of the machine began to dissipate.

"Sliding into second place is Mitsuo and Taijin of team Carbon, with a miraculous 0 minutes and 1 second time as the juggernaut, winning them the runner up award of 3 points! And in our incredible first place, the juggernaut for an inconceivable 14 minutes and 59 seconds, Elisa Ayumi of Enflamed Quintet winning the champion award of 4 points!"

Elisa reached out for her Legilis lying on the stadium, and also the severed arm. As she packed her gunpla into her holder, she turned around, leaving Mitsuo and Taijin to face the back of her red Hakama.

"This is Enflamed Quintet."

* * *

Author's note

Yo! Nekronous here! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! I'm pretty glad at what's going on at the moment, the pace of the story is starting to pick up, so you'll see more gunpla battles in the future!

A special thanks goes to all of the OC creators, this chapter could not have been done without you guys! :)

Gundam Build Fighters Ash and Snow Chapter 6 - In the shadows will be released on July 6th.

Have a nice day!


	7. In the shadows

From the spectator area on the second floor, the idle members of team carbon watched in horror as the Captain of Enflamed Quintet, Elisa Ayumi, took the field – and using her Crimson Legilis, destroyed everybody in her path without drawing a single weapon. The crowd erupted in wild cheering as the plavsky particles faded, prompting the end of the battle. The MC's voice was booming through the speakers set up all around the room

"Incredible! Unbelievable performance by Elisa Ayumi of Enflamed Quintet! Staying as the juggernaut for an astounding 14:59 out of the 15 minutes, Team Enflamed Quintet take a convincing first place victory! What a show!"

Grind watched observantly as the girl in the red Hakama gracefully walked away from the stadium, not even bothering to look back at the several opponents she had easily decimated. Her expression was stale and boring, as if that entire event was not sufficient for even a warm up. Concerned about their safety in the tournament, Grind said

"Hey, Kosetsu. What do you think? Do you think your Sapphire Exia will last?"

After a few seconds of silence, Grind turned back and repeated his question, only to find that Kosetsu had mysteriously disappeared

"Hey Kose-"

Mina, who had been previously inspecting every movement from each playe in the battle, had just noticed that Kosetsu was missing. She looked around quickly, and sighed.

"Geez, where did that girl run off to….did she have to use the bathroom or something?"

"Probably. Let's wait here just in case she gets lost or something. You never know with her…"

* * *

As Elisa confidently strolled down the corridor leading to the team rooms, a certain familiar figure was leaning against the corridor awaiting her arrival. Elisa recognized her instantly, as that person was the competitor who she was most interested in watching in the entire event. She stopped in her path, and greeted the cream haired girl.

"Hello, Kosetsu Yukimura."

Still leaning on the wall, Kosetsu tilted her head so she faced Elisa directly. Her sapphire eyes met with Elisa's chestnut ones through an intense gaze. Kosetsu stepped forward and away from the wall she was previously leaning on. She ferociously glared at Elisa as she questioned her.

"What are you planning?"

Elisa smiled, and responded in a sarcastic voice

"My, what ever could you be talking about?"

Kosetsu instantly replied with a detailed barrage of information that she closely observed from the last battle.

"Your movements. At the last minute you stretched out your gunpla's right hand – the hand which was holding the beam hilt. You made it seem like you were blocking Mitsuo's attack, but you could have done that with your left hand and not risk losing your space as Juggernaut. Furthermore, you kept it outstretched as the Gelgoog jumped into the air when you clearly had enough time to retract your hand and create a more effective defense for an aerial attack. Even as the Beam Naginata was thrown downwards, based off your movements beforehand, you still could have easily dodged that attack. So why? Why would you intentionally risk damaging your own gunpla and give your enemy free points?"

After her deposit of condensed information and theories, Kosetsu stepped towards Elisa, who closed her eyes and was smiling slyly. Kosetsu's voice turned serious and aggressive, while maintaining her iconic cold voice.

"What is the meaning of this? Are you messing with us?"

A few seconds of silence ensued after Kosetsu's interrogation. Elisa giggled, and smiled innocently at Kosetsu

"It looks like I've been found out, haven't I? Well done, Kosetsu."

Elisa resumed walking down the corridor, seemingly forgetting that Kosetsu was standing in the middle, blocking her path. As she approached Kosetsu and attempted a sidestep to get past her, Kosetsu outstretched her hand, slamming into the wall and completely halting Elisa's walk. Elisa, now with no choice, explained the reasoning behind her questionable actions

"Well, it could be said that I'm messing with you, if you want to put it that way. I just wanted to make sure that you guys make it as far into the event as possible. After all, for a good champion to rise, there has to be a good competitor."

Kosetsu's hand slipped down from the wall, freeing a path for Elisa to walk through. As Elisa walked past Kosetsu, she added onto her previous statement.

"I'm not letting you leave the tournament before I fight that Exia of yours."

* * *

Mitsuo and Taijin, after an exhausting battle, entered their team room. Grind and Mina was there sitting on the couch in the room patiently waiting for their return. Mitsuo, immediately upon seeing his teammates, bowed his head.

"I'm really sorry!"

Grind sighed and got up from the couch. He placed his hand on Mitsuo's shoulder, and pulled him up from his bowing position.

"It's perfectly alright man. At this point, we should consider ourselves grateful that we even got anything out of that battle."

Taijin put down his black briefcase that he carried with him into the room. He sighed as well, and added onto Grind's statement.

"Well it's not like we can do much. She basically wiped all of us out without drawing a single weapon."

Taking off his glasses and cleaning it with his shirt, Mitsuo hopelessly groaned.

"Geez, Elisa Ayumi…"

Mina jumped up from the couch and slammed her fist against the wall loudly, creating an ear deafening thud. The entire room fell silent and everybody's attention shifted to Mina. The atmosphere around Mina and completely shifted, as usually she was a cheery and upbeat friend – and now she was a serious and grim competitor.

"You guys have got to learn to cheer up, honestly. We've scored in the top 50% of both of our rounds, so unless if we mess up the next round, we're basically guaranteed to make it into the next round"

She put her hand on the black gunpla holder mounted on her waist and smiled to the group confidently.

"And to make sure we don't mess up this round, I'm going next."

Mitsuo instantly objected, and reached his hand out to mina, gesturing her to put her hand off of her gunpla holder

"But we don't know what the theme even is yet! What if your gunpla isn't suited for it! You've got to-"

"Alright. I'll leave it to you, Mina."

Grind immediately cut through Mitsuo's sentence with his approval of Mina's departure, and his sure and confident voice overwhelmed Mitsuo's voice of worry and despair. Mitsuo nudged Grind, checking if he is sure of the decision he is making by sending Mina out. Grind leaned into him, and whispered

"Can't you sense it? Mina's serious. We really can't stop her at this point."

The door of the lobby room opened, breaking the atmosphere of intensity. The cream haired , sapphire eyed competitor stepped into the room, and tilted her head with a confused expression as to why the atmosphere in the room felt so intense.

"Hey guys, did I miss something?"

Mina, as if by the flick of a switch, returned to her usual self, and acted as if nothing happened.

"Nah, I bet it's just ya imagination, Kosetsu!"

The speakers in the lobby squeaked, which was the cue for the MC's voice to boom through the microphone, announcing the next round of the interschool battle tournament.

"Welcome back, and good job to all of the amazing competitors from round 2! We'll now move straight onwards to explaining the rules of round 3!"

The audiences' wild cheers could be heard from inside the lobby as the MC declared the end of round 2 and the start of round 3.

"The third round is going to explore a very overlooked and sadly abandoned part of gunpla battle. The other side of those big flashy beam cannons and those warship cleaving anti ship swords. That's right, if you haven't guessed it already, the third round is going to be a purely stealth based round!"

A large confident smile grew on Mina's face as the MC announced the theme of the next round.

"Ten competitors from ten teams, which the teams are free to choose, will step forward into a stealth oriented arena. The objective is to take out as many competitors as possible without getting destroyed!"

Grind snickered, as he instantly found an easy loophole in the theme of the round.

"Hey, if it's a stealth round, then It's basically going to be a game of sitting ducks. Gunpla will just be standing around with sniper rifles and their operators waiting for something to happen."

As if reading Grind's mind and thoughts, the MC continued his explanation of the rules of the battle.

"To keep a good grip on the theme of stealth, all ranged weapons will be banned due to their overreliance in the field. Operators are also prevented from entering the battle, as if the location of other players is revealed, it wouldn't be so much of a stealth battle."

Taijin sighed as he realized that the operator ban prevented him from having any influence in the battle- and even more seriously, the operator ban prevents his flight booster from providing support to any of his teammates.

"You guys, initially I planned to use the flight booster because any gunpla attached to it can easily get close and use melee attacks, but with the operator ban, I'm not sure if that's possible."

The MC made his final remarks on the microphone before the speakers fell quiet again.

"So now, choose your pilots! Choose carefully!"

Kosetsu stepped forward immediately, and gave everyone in the group a stern look.

"The Sapphire Exia is a melee oriented gunpla anyway which a naturally high speed. Therefore, I think it would be in our benefit if I go."

As if Ignoring Kosetsu's words, Mina already began to walk towards the exit of the room, preparing to fight. She stopped next to Kosetsu, and gave her a cheerful smie before she left the room.

"It's alright, I think Exia-chan needs to rest anyway. I'd be more than happy to take this battle for myself!"

Before Kosetsu had a chance to respond, Mina already walked out of the room, with the door closing behind her. Placing her hand onto her face, Kosetsu asked the group with a worrying expression.

"No, really guys. Did something happen when I was gone?"

Grind rubbed his chin, and then began to walk out of the exit as well, as if oblivious to Kosetsu's concerns. Mitsuo sighed, and offered Kosetsu a brief explanation.

"Well, Mina's just pretty fired up I guess. I think we should trust her on this. Appareantly, Grind says that she hasn't been this serious In a while, so I think it would be in our interest to go up to the spectator area and watch the battle from above."

After the explanation, Mitsuo strolled towards the exit while adjusting the angle of his glasses with his index finger. Kosetsu turned around and walked out of the exit she just came from, gesturing Taijin, who was sitting alone on the couch, to follow her.

* * *

On the second floor, the members of team Carbon watched as Mina stood in front of the battle machine amongst other players. Mina's short red hair seemed to glow orange under the ceiling light, with a thirst for battle shining through her eyes. After a few eventless seconds, the crowd exploded into cheers as a girl approached the battle system opposite Mina. Noticing the large bust of enthusiasm by the audience, the Mc leaned into his microphone and began yelling into it energetically.

"She's here! One of the most feared members of Enflamed Quintet, Kayla Grahams!"

A rather tall, black haired female competitor was standing opposite Mina, wearing the same Enflamed Quintet jacket that Spencer wore earlier. Her attitude and aura clearly contrasted to Elisa's aura of modesty and sincerity, as she had an atmosphere of cockiness and arrogance. Kayla gave Mina a threatening, sinister smile while Mina returned a serious and deadly look – one that she rarely had.

"Ah, what a shame. I was expecting that other girl. I need to crush her for the humiliation she caused Spencer. Not that crushing her will be an issue though. Like a cockroach crushed under the King's treads."

Mina let out a laugh after hearing the words of Kayla- but it was unlike any other laugh she had let out before. Contrasting to her usually energetic and gleeful laugh, the laugh she let out for Kayla was sarcastic and mocking.

"To call yourselves kings walking around with that kind of attitude. Do you feel no shame?"

"Shame? What shame is there in being the strongest? Of course, a weakling like you would never understand."

Another sadistic laugh was let out by Mina, chilling Grind to the bone up on the second floor.

"Hey, I've never heard her laugh like this…"

On the other side of the spectator area, other high influence competitors by the names of Yuta , Yuu and Raul, were watching observantly as Mina's darker side was shown to the audiences. Yuta scratched his already messy head, and expressed his concern for Mina's sanity

"Hey, hey…Is she really Mina? Like, the cheerful Mina from team carbon? Is she alright…"

Raul tapped Yuta's shoulder while still watching over Mina from above. He squinted his eyes as he focused his vision on the competing girl from Team Carbon.

"It should be alright. I sense an incredible fighting spirit coming from her. Without a doubt, she's alright."

Yuu let out a sinister laugh when Raul reassured Yuta of Mina's mental health. The laugh was scarily rather similar to Mina's, except it had a much darker ring to it – despite being so high pitched. Raul and Yuta both gave Yuu a disapproving look. Yuta nervously said

"Yuu, this is no joking matter!"

Yuu's cold expression did not change a single bit after Yuta's scolding. She was, too , focused on observing Mina from above. As she watched Mina confidently pull out her GP base from her pocket, Yuu smiled sinisterly to herself.

The robotic voice of the GP base called out to all of the competitors who were standing in front of the large machine, and prompted them to insert their pilot identifications to begin the battle.

"Please set your GP base"

As if all in sync, all of the competitors pulled out their rectangular id card and inserted it into their respective slot, prompting the machine to light up in a refreshing blue light. As if waiting for all of the GP bases to be inserted, the MC's voice roared through the microphone once again.

"We have created a new custom map for this event. After all, if it's stealth, there's not much meaning to it if you know all of the chokepoints already!"

The plavsky particles that began to rise from the central machine took an unfamiliar turn, and the blue plavsky particles faded into shades of black, grey and white. After several moments of the particles dancing into position, the realistic illusion of a nightscape city was created.

"SP Field 2 : Night city. Please set your gunpla."

Confidently, Kayla roared out to the crowd before her.

"All of you, my subjects! Hear me! Today is the day I utterly destroy this member of Team Carbon! This mongrel who dare insut-"

"Shut up already. You're just going to embarrass yourself when I destroy you from within the shadows."

Mina's gaze turned vicious and hostile, with her sentence cutting off Kayla's midway. On the spectator floor, the members of Team Carbon watched observantly as Mina's personality took a 180. Kosetsu glaread at her with her sapphire eyes, and commented

"Certainly, during the time that I've been here, I never knew she had this side of her. Is this a split personality? Either way, I feel an incredible fighting spirit resonating from within her. I think we've got this."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the spectator floor, Yuta laughed wholeheatedly at Mina's incredible rebuttal.

"Ohhh! Burrnn!"

Raul smiled at the girl from above – even though he was a veteran pilot in the school and experienced many battles, he had never encountered a fighting spirit that intrigued him so much.

"This is….Interesting. I can feel it from up here, Mina Takahashi. Brillaint!"

Yuu turned around, and walked towards the staircase leading down to the lobby. Noticing her attempt to leave the spectator area, Raul called out

"Masato Yuu! Are you not going to watch this magnificent battle?"

Without even turning around to face Raul, Yuu began walking down the stairs, calling out

"There's no need. I already know who the winner is."

Kayla energetically whipped out her black gunpla holder, and smashed down her gunpla onto the launch pad. The crowd exclaimed immediately, and the MC leaned into the microphone to narrate his thoughts regarding the gunpla Enflamed Quintet intends to send out to the stealth round.

"This is Kayla's gunpla from Enflamed Quintet – and it is just what you would expect from them! This beautifully constructed throne Zweii , equipped with a large buster sword and several remote fangs, is easily equipped to take down any opponent! The fangs will be allowed, however it will be unable to fire any beams of any sort!"

Kayla smiled confidently at Mina, and she flicked her hair as she taunted the lone member of Team Carbon.

"What's wrong? Too scared to even place you gunpla down? Even after all of that trashtalk? What a shame…"

After a few seconds of not responding to Kayla's taunt, Mina looked at her ferociously.

"Sorry, I was kinda caught up in the moment. I was thinking about how many ways I can tear that gunpla of yours into shreds."

Mina reached into her pocket and pulled out a unique, asymmetrical gunpla that nobody has ever seen before. Trying to make sense of the gunpla, the MC pulled over his mic and began commentating the features of the gunpla.

"Team Carbon's Mina has sent out a custom gunpla of her own it seems! With the main body clearly based off the force impulse, it has got high mobility on the get-go. And…wait…what!?"

The LCD screens mounted all around the rooms have panned to a very distinct feature of the gunpla that Mina had presented – a feature that differentiated her gunpla from any other gunpla in existence.

" Is that a Zgok arm? Does that right arm of the force Impulse gundam…belong to a Zgok? What incredible modeling skills! To kitbash to incredibly incompatible models, and to make it fuction in gunpla battle! What an incredibly bold move by Mina of Team Carbon!"

The robot voice of the battle machine forced the MC to halt his commentary, as the launching pads of all the gunplas turned green from red.

"Battle start."

"Kayla. Throne Zwei. Bow down to me."

"Mina. Searing Impulse. Here I come."

As the battle started, each of the gunplas rushed out of their launching pads into the nightscape city arena. Landing onto a building's rooftop, Kayla's Throne Zwei turned its bulky head around, in hope of finding another competitor to hunt down.

"Found you!"

With a movement of the Zwei's arm, two GN fangs came shooting out of its long sideskirt, and headed straight for a lone, unaware Zaku I. With two clean slices, the Zaku I was taken down from afar, and exploded into an unrecognizable mess. Kayla laughed cockily, and declared out to the competitors.

"Well , Well ! Who is next! Come and get me, you all know where I am! It's not like I'm trying to hide or anything!"

The crowd randomly exploded into cheers and applause, and a smile grew on Kayla's face. Arrogantly opening her hands to the crowd, she yelled out

"It is alright, my dears! Save the applause for when I win!"

The MC's voice was booming through the speakerphone energetically, promting the applause to grow even stronger.

"What is this! This is unheard of!"

Kayla brushed her hair as she happily accepted the praise of the MC.

"Why thank you! Taking care of that lonely Zaku I was merely a piece of cake though. It is the job of the King to eliminate the useless!"

Finishing his sentence, the MC's voice continued to roar through the speakers.

"Incredible! Mina of Team Carbon has already eliminated two competitors! This is amazing!"

A look of surprise and shock appeared on Kayla's panicking face, as she realized that all of the applause and praise was not meant for her.

"What!? No! How dare you steal my encore! My spotlight!"

Without warning, three claws came piercing through the chest of the Throne Zwei, breaking the purple gem that it had in the middle. As the moonlight of the shade began to illuminate the dark city, the hand of the impulse could be seen impaling the throne Zwei through the back. Mina called out to Kayla from across the stadium as she pulled back the claws from the gunpla.

"For someone who claims to be a king, you're pretty damn careless. I feel pretty bad for the kingdom you rule over."

"YOU LITTLE!"

The throne zwei rotate it's body aggressively, and swung its giant buster sword behind him, only to find that the Searing Impulse had disappeared. The sword clumsily cut through the empty air, causing the gunpla to clumsily lose balance and almost trip over. Kayla, now furious and humiliated, yelled at mina from across the stadium.

"You little rat! Where are you hiding!?

"Well it wouldn't be a stealth round If I told you where I was, right?"

"Don't get all smart on me! Nobody likes a smartass!"

Despite its shattered condition, the throne zwei ran towards the ledge of the building, intending to leap from one building to another building adjacent. As the gunpla left the floor, and it's foot left the ground, two white claws pierced through the throne's left ankle, causing the gunpla to lose all balance of the jump and begin to fall down ungracefully. With a large crash into the ground, the searing impulse could be seen looking down on the crater caused by the crashed gunpla. A large smoke cloud began to rise into the sky with the crash, and the rising smoke showed no sign of ceasing.

"With a crash that big, everybody knows where you are now."

As mina predicted, several other gunplas could be seen rushing towards the explosion, to investigate in hopes of finding somebody to attack to gain points for their team. Within a few seconds, all of the gunplas in the battle were surrounding the smoke cloud, with Mina's searing impulse stealthily watching on the sidelines. The gunplas began to enter the smoke cloud one by one, until every single one of them entered the smoke cloud. Mina whispered to herself.

"Checkmate."

Kayla, immediately recognizing Mina's plan, panicked and yelled out to all of the other gunplas in the smoke cloud.

"RUN! SHE'S USING ME AS BAIT! SHE PLANTED BOM-"

Before Kayla could even finish her sentence, a high pitched sound rung within the smoke, and within a few seconds, a large scale explosion was detonated, completely demolishing every gunpla in the smoke cloud.

The entire room fell quiet as the robotic voice of the gunpla battle machine called out

"Battle ended"

Attempting to break himself out of his speechless state of mind, the MC energetically yelled into his microphone, prompting the speakers to further amplify the volume of his voice.

"INCREIDBLE! IN FIRST PLACE, DESTROYING ALL BUT ONE GUNPLA, MINA TAKAHASHI OF TEAM CARBON! IN SECOND PLACE, DESTROYING ONLY ONE GUNPLA, KAYLA OF TEAM ENFLAMED QUINTET!"

Kayla immediately slammed her hand on the battle machine. She aggressively pointed at the fighter from Team Carbon standing opposite her.

"You wrench! How dare you! That was the most boring, stale and retarded gunpla battle I've ever had! It wasn't interesting to watch in the slightest! Aren't you ashamed of putting up such a boring performance? Simply blowing everyone up?"

"You really don't get it do you?"

Mina's words hit a soft spot in Kayla's core, suddenly turning her nervous, causing her to shake intensely. Kayla fell to her knees as Mina continued talking.

"Assassinations aren't meant to be pretty and flashy. As long as it's efficient, that's good enough. That's what stealth is all about, isn't it?"

"YOU LITTLE!"

Seemingly coming out of nowhere, Elisa put her hand on Kayla's shoulder, just before she was about to burst. She patted Kayla's shoulder, and her trembling eased. Offering her hand to walk with her, Elisa began to bring Kayla, who was now silent and soundless, back into the lobby of Enflamed Quintet. Before leaving the stadium, Elisa turned to Mina and gave her a warm smile, and then proceeded to happily congratulate her on her victory.

"Congratulations Mina, and Team Carbon. Now you're guaranteed to make it into the second day. See you tomorrow."

* * *

Author's note:

Hey, It's Nekronous here. Thanks for taking the time to read the 6th chapter of this story. I'd also like to thank all of my viewers – with your continued support this story has reached 1,000 views! Although it doesn't sound like a significant amount, it is certainly much more than the amount of views I expected to receive.

I'd also like to thank the creators of the Original Characters, Yuta , Yuu and Raul. You guys have created awesome characters and the story would never be complete without them!

Chapter 7 will be released a bit earlier than usual, because this Sunday I won't be in town, so I won't be here to release a new chapter. So , Gundam Build Fighters Ash and Snow Chapter 7 – Raizen High's Grand Battle Royale, will be released on the 10th of July.

Have a nice day!

-update 6/10/14 I'm really sorry guys, but due to a sudden change in plans it seems like i'll have to leave earlier than expected - but on the bright side i should return a bit earlier than planned as well. As a result, I can't put up the newest chapter on thursday T.T BUT I can put it up on sunday which is when I return. Sorry for the inconvenience!


	8. Raizen High's Battle Royale

May 2st 9:00 AM – In front of Raizen High's battle arena. Day 2 of the interschool tournament

After an eventful first day, only the top thirty of the sixty teams that entered were permitted to proceed into the next round of the tournament, sending several disappointed gunpla battlers home with their gunpla in pieces. Team Carbon, the team of Taijin Sakamoto, Kosetsu Yukimura, Mina Takahashi, Grind Coleslaw and Mitsuo Kimura, has made it into the second day with ease, destroying their competition and even defeating the returning champion, Enflamed Quintet in 2 of the 3 rounds. With high expectations, the team enter the school grounds.

The gates were flocking with several spectators much earlier than the day before. Despite being competitors, the team found it very difficult to get into their private lobbies, having to squish through spaces in between people in order to do so. As they made their way towards their safe haven, the team unintentionally eavesdropped on the conversations amongst the spectators.

"Hey, did you hear? There's this new team in the tournament and apparently they are doing so well!"

"Yeah Yeah! The ones that actually were able to compete against Elisa and Team Enflamed Quintet!

"No way! A newcomer team able to compete with Enflamed Quintet, the kings of the school's gunpla battlers?"

"It's true! Spencer and Kayla were both destroyed by them! What's their team name….Carson? Carlos?"

"It's team Carbon! Geez, I can't wait!"

As the team skirted through the large crowd, they made it into the gunpla battle building. They were greeted with a very different setup compare to the one the day before – the setup yesterday had several smaller machines surrounding a slightly larger one in the center, but today all of the machines in the building were combined together to make a giant gunpla battle machine. The octagonal shape of the battle machine allowed all of them to connect to one another seamlessly. Kosetsu watched observantly as they passed, with technicians scattering around the room to inspect the quality of the machines.

Upon reaching their private room, the team member split up, each member occupying an area of the room. Grind instantly threw himself on the large couch at the back of the room, Mina took one of the smaller armchairs in the corner, Mitsuo leaned on the wall beside Grind, Kosetsu sat on one of the small armchairs opposite Mina while Taijin stood behind the door, sighing. Taijin looked around at each of his teammates nervously twitching.

"Geez, everybody expects so much from us…."

As Taijin scratched his head helplessly, Grind cleared his throat in an attempt to calm his mind down. He then responded

"Well that goes without saying. A newcomer comes in and, in the first day, destroys the defending champion."

Mina coughed, grasping everybody's attention in the room. She smiled back at the concerned faces looking at her.

"Well, all we have to do today is make it into the third day, right? Then If we make it more than halfway into the third day, we're guaranteed to get something, right?"

The group looked at the girl with very confused faces. Yesterday, she exploded in anger as she witnessed the negativity that her teammates were emitting, and then proceeded to destroy the competition in the following round. Yet today, heck, even moments after the match, she acted completely normal as if nothing happened. How can someone go from cheerful to berserk and then back to cheerful, seemingly at the flick of a switch? Grind laughed nervously, and mentally thanked the gods that she didn't react the same way that she did the day before.

"That's right! We've got this!"

Mitsuo, leaning on the side of the wall, listened into the entire conversation. He adjusted his glasses and gave his allies a serious look.

"It sounds all good and dandy on paper, but we can't formulate a plan yet since we don't even know the event that the organizers are going to throw at us…"

Responding instantly to Mitsuo's concern, Kosetsu spoke in her empty , emotionless voice.

"Battle Royale"

The entire team tilted their head and everybody gave Kosetsu an incredibly confused look. Confused as to what her teammates don't understand, she imitated their worried gaze and tilted her head as well.

"It's an event where everybody goes in all at once in a free for all."

Taijin outstretched his shaking hand, while at the same time giving Kosetsu a very unconvinced look.

"Well…Kosetsu…it's just…."

"Hm?"

"How do you know that it' going to be a battle royale before the event is even announced?"

"Well that's just simple. Looking at the way that the battle machines are all arranged, it's pretty obvious that it's going to be an event that involves everybody fighting all at once. And the most suitable, competitive gamemode that exists for that kind of battle is the Battle Royale."

As if taking his cue, the MC's loud voice came booming in from the speakers without any warning.

"Yo yo! Congratulations to all of the team who have made it here into the second day!"

Everybody in the room redirected their attention from Kosetsu to the MC, which was a far more reliable way of telling which event will occur next.

"I'll now be explaining the rules for the event. The theme of this second day is contribution – every member of the team has to contribute something to the team. No team is going to be arriving tomorrow on the back of only one person. So this event is going to be … The Battle Royale Event!"

The members of Team Carbon looked in disbelief as her teammate successfully predicted the event of the day before it was even announced. Kosetsu grinned slyly as the MC continued to elaborate on the event.

"So the way that this event work is that every single member of every team will enter into a single supersized map, and the team will work together to defeat other members of other teams. However, this is not your average battle royale! No no no, this is much too easy!"

Kosetsu's eyes widened as the rules began to elaborate even further, revealing that this Battle Royale is no ordinary Battle Royale.

"This is the Raizen High's Grand Battle Royale! Although it will still run on the basic system of a normal Battle Royale, at the same time, it is very different. Instead of waiting for a certain amount of players to be eliminated in order for the round to be finished, the round will instead be finished based upon a certain time limit. Now, here is where the fun part comes in. Each team will gather points by destroying other team members. A regular member is one point to the team, however an operator kill is worth 5 points. Your team finishes the event when nobody is able to fight or when the time limit is over. So don't give up! All teams are to be present at the large battle arena in 15 minutes after formulating a strategy."

Grind scratched his chin, and already began to formulate possible strategies to be used against the several enemy teams.

"Taijin, your booster will play a crucial part in this battle. The only issue is that all 4 of us will be going at once, and the flight booster can only dock with one person at a time."

Adding onto Grind's comments, Mitsuo contributed to the conversation with some insight of his own.

"Not only that, but if Taijin's operator machine dies at any point in the Battle Royale, it would be 5 points to the enemy team that destroyed it. It would be pretty risky to send it out..."

Tapping his briefcase that contained the wing booster, Taijin smiled at the group confidently

"Well, I'll send it out in case of an emergency. Don't worry so much, because of the natural speed of this booster, it won't be so easy to destroy"

Punching his fists together, Grind motivationally grinned at his teammates, who were now all eager to enter battle.

"So the general plan is to destroy everything in our path. But make sure to steer clear from Elisa, Yuu, Yuta and Raul. If you see any of them, head out of the area immediately. Engaging in a battle with those big names would surely hurt our chances of making it into the next day.

The ceiling lights in the small room reflected off Mitsuo's eyes as a smile grew on his previously depressed and worried face.

"So basically avoid those 4 and destroy everyone else. Sounds like a plan."

Kosetsu raised her eyebrows as she identified a problem that the team will encounter in the battle royale

"So how are we going to divide ourselves? Are we going to all go as a 4 or are we going to split up to cover more ground?"

Rubbing his chin, Grind raised a suggestion for the group to consider

"Splitting up would mean risking us being destroyed separately but covering a lot of ground, whereas sticking together would mean that we would have a good chance against everyone in our path but we don't cover as much ground. We need to find the balance between the two, so I suggest that we split up into pairs."

Elaborating on Grind's suggestion, Mitsuo added his own insight on the matter, contributing to the conversation.

"We should find a balance between our gunpla's playstyles. See, my Gelgoog is really defensive, so I should be paired up with an extremely offensive partner, such as Kosetsu's Sapphire Exia."

Springing up from her seat energetically like a young girl, Mina squealed and punched her hand into the air energetically.

"Yessh! That means that I go with Grind! For the first time in forever we get to be paired up!"

Sighing at Mina's raging enthusiasm, Grind turned his head to Taijin and Kosetu with a concerned look.

"So that's that. Any objections?"

Taijin and Kosetsu shook their heads, signaling that they were okay with the way things are. Standing up from the couch confidently, Grind began walking towards the door with a large, confident smile on his face.

"Well, let's go!"

Despite the massive size of the central battle machine, there were so many competitors cramped around it that every single side of the large machine was completely occupied. As several teams began to flock around the machine, the MC's voice boomed through the speakers scattered throughout the rooms, much to the enjoyment of the several fans on the ground floor spectating area. The second floor – which was previously used purely for the competitors to spectate other players, was completely empty as this event demands everybody's participation.

"This is a once in a year event! The top 30 teams! The top 150 players of Raizen High, all gathered in one battle arena! What an incredible opportunity! Welcome to the Raizen High Grand Battle Royale!"

The entire stadium roared in cheers as the plavsky particles slowly began to rise from within the gigantic center machine.

"Beginning Plavsky Particle Dispersion"

The thousands of millions of blue particles rose from within the machine slowly yet breathtakingly gracefully, creating a beautiful large stadium containing mixed biomes – ranging from a large jungle to a desert, from a city to the ocean. An incredible, supersized stadium was created before the player's very eyes.

"Please set your GP base"

All at the same time, several competitors placed their GP bases onto their allocated slot in the machine, lighting up with a light blue hue. The sound of 150 competitors putting their GP base on the machine all at the same time was synchronized, as if everyone was counting down to put their base on the plate at the exact same time.

"Please set your gunpla"

Similar to the placement of the GP bases, all of the competitors reached into their black waist mounted gunpla holders and pulled out their gunpla, placing it onto the panel. The TV screens all across the rooms were showing every single gunpla that was put down, ranging from gunpla that had already appeared in the tournament to gunpla that some spectators may have never even seen before. Looking at the LCD screens, even for just a moment, anybody could tell that the construction and the refining of every gunpla put down was top notch. Ranging from the incredibly popular Aile Strike gundam to the unsung unrecognized Sumo, the bulky and tanky seravee to the light and agile spallow, the audience were guaranteed an interesting fight right from the moment the gunplas were set.

Kosetsu turned her eyes towards Grind's mobile suit, as it was the only one that she had not seen yet. Mitsuo's Gelgoog and Mina's Searing Impulse were indeed remarkable gunpla, and if Grind, who Mina mentioned to be the best in the grade is also capable of building such gunpla, Team Carbon should have a high chance of survival. As Grind pulled out his gunpla from within his black holder, the gunpla that Kosetsu witnessed was easily of the highest caliber.

A strike gundam with refined, shaper armor with an extremely dark color scheme. Although it had the basic design of a strike gundam, the extra armor made it look much more similar to something like the Age or even the Impulse. However, what stood out the most was the backpack that Grind chose to attach to his gunpla. Despite the incredible versatility that the backpack of the strike gundam offers, Grind has created a hybrid between the IWSP pack and the Noir striker. Although the wings of the Noir striker remained attached on its backpack, the two swords that came with the IWSP pack were also present on Grind's striker pack. With the two wings on the noir pack coming with two anti-ship swords as well, Grind's gunpla was very obviously a melee-oriented gunpla.

Across the stadium, Yuu of team Hollow Tortoise also set her gunpla onto its allocated slot. It was a beautifully constructed Destiny Gundam, with no scratches on it's shining armor. It was a straight build, with little to no modifications done to it. Despite that, the shining flawless finish on the surface of the gunpla, as well as the incredible detailing made the rather cheap plastic model appear as if it were the real destiny gundam. The balanced arsenal of the Destiny gundam, consisting of both strong melee and ranged capabilities, makes it a very safe and solid choice for any competitor. With incredible panel lining and inscribing done by Yuu, the gunpla caught the eyes of many as it appeared on the LCD screens.

Yuta's gunpla from Sober Dance was no let down as well. It was an incredibly unique kitbash of several gunplas from the G gundam series, with the Master Gundam's shoulders and legs and the Shining Gundam's arms used on the main body of the God Gundam. It was painted over with a green color scheme, so that the parts from three separate models seemed to blend together perfectly – as if they were made for each other. Despite having little to no ranged capabilities, at a single glance anybody could tell that any gunpla that wants to engage against Yuta's gunpla in melee combat stands not the slightest chance.

Quiver's captain, Raul, placed down a gunpla that captured the attention of several viewers. A heavily modified GM Aqua was the choice for Raul Machado, with a flawless construction and a remarkable assembly. The green visor on the GM's head shone light green as it was placed down, as If it were a piece of glass hiding a shining emerald. The incredibly large arena is bound to have several areas of very concentrated waters, so with the amphibious combat oriented weaponry of the GM Aqua, taking dominance over the sea and oceans would be but a simple task with Raul's gunpla.

In the stadium were also several familiar gunplas that appeared earlier in the tournament. Kayla placed down her recently repaired Throne Zwei, with scratches on its ankles still clearly visible. Spencer also brought back a destroyed gunpla of his, bringing in his Chaos gundam that was sliced into shreds by Kosetsu. Noticeably to some hardcore Enflamed Quintet fans, it's right shoulder was replaced with that of the Buster gundam, and it's left arm was removed and replaced with the arms of Gundam Age's Gafran – while keeping the Heavy arm left shoulder intact. Elisa placed down her Legilis of gleaming ruby, whose right arm was quickly and easily fixed in a matter of seconds – leaving no trace of damage whatsoever.

Mina placed down her Searing Impulse – the unique impulse gundam custom with one of it's entire arms being replaced with that of a Zgok's , giving it incredible close range potential. The backpack of the searing impulse remained the same, featuring a straight build of the Impulse's force silhouette. Although mostly unharmed, Mitsuo reluctantly placed his Gelgoog on the slot, which had several armor customizations to distinguish it clearly from any other regular Gelgoog.

Finally, with a gentle tap, Kosetsu's Sapphire Exia was placed on the battle stage in front of her. The memories rushed through the audience as the gunpla appeared on the LCD screen. How that very gunpla made a fool of Enflamed Quintet in the very first day of the event. Such a preposterous thing has never happened – no newcomer has ever come close to besting Enflamed Quintet. It's dual gn swords mounted on each arm folded back neatly and compactly, and the larger, bulkier legs that belonged to the destiny helped to support the incredibly customized upper body – with a breathtakingly amazing sapphire paintjob on all of the Exia's blue components. Kosetsu smiled confidently as the lights in the hangar turned from red to green with a high pitched noise coming from the battle machine. Immediately after the green lights in the hangar activated, the MC yelled through the microphone, announcing the start of the biggest battle royale the school had ever had in its history.

"Is everybody ready? Let the battle begin!"

"Battle start"

The machine's robotic voice spoke out, also announcing that the gunpla are all ready to launch. All at once, each and every competitor's gunpla began to launch out from it's catapult.

"Kayla, Throne Zwei. Bow down to me!"

"Spencer, Chaos bullet MK II. Coming to kick your asses!"

"Elisa Ayumi. Crimson Legilis. Taking off"

"Masato Yuu. Destiny. Initiating Launch."

"Yuta Kitano. Lee Gundam. Heading out!"

"Raul Machado. GM Aqua. Striking from the depths!"

"Grind Colesaw. Void Strike. Here I come!"

"Mitsuo Kimura. Gelgoog custom. Off I go!"

"Mina Takahashi. Searing Impulse. Going out!"

"Kosetsu Yukimura. Sapphire Exia. Launching!"

* * *

Author's note

Yo, Nekronous here! Sorry about how short this chapter is this time around - I've been rather busy lately .

I'm also going to take up some advice from a viewer, which is to not post the update date on the chapter as it would be rather weird. I'm sorry but I didn't really know it was that weird, i'm very new to this fanfiction thing.

Chapter 8 : Yuta vs Raul vs Yuu will be coming soon!

Have a nice day!


	9. Yuta vs Raul vs Yuu

Like aggravated fireflies, every single combatant from 30 teams were flying around in the enormous expanded battle arena. Explosions decorated the skies as the sounds of beam sabers violently clashing could be heard all around the multi-biome arena. Indeed, this was the largest battle royale to ever take place in the entire history of Raizen High. With several arenas all in one field ranging from the vast emptiness of space to the lush greenery of the forest, the combatants were widely spread out across all of the arenas.

With so many ways to approach the battle royale, teams had several battle plans in mind. Some teams stick together and favor the simple goal of surviving but risk all getting destroyed at once should they be forced with a power larger than theirs. Other teams, confident in the abilities of their teammates, split up completely, spreading the risk as well as covering more ground for more potential kills. These strategies were evident throughout the battlefield, as in one desert biome, a group of 4 Jegan were sticking together, marching aimlessly through the sand as missiles were exploding right above their heads in the biome of space.

They were zooming across the sands, ignoring the battles occurring around them. All at once, the Jegan instantly halted their march as a lone gunpla stood in front of the squadron. The gunpla was not in the slightest intimidating – it was green and had no weapons in hand. One of the pilots of the Jegan communicated rashly to the gunpla through the plavsky particle cockpits.

"This is your first and only warning. Step aside or you will be shot down without hesitation"

From within the plavsky walls, another one of the Jegans used voice communication, relaying his message to the lone fighter who dared to talk to the mysterious gunpla

"Idiot! How can you say that! Don't you recognize the gunpla in front of you?! That's Yuta Kitano's Lee gundam! We have to get out of here!"

"It's perfectly fine! We've got all four of us here – not to mention that he hasn't got any long range weapons! We can just gun him down!"

Activating his voice communications to all of the Jegan in front of him, Yuta smiled as the Lee gundam clenched its fists and took an aggressive fighting stance.

"Sorry, I don't think I can step aside. Let's see what you've got."

Drawing their beam rifles, the light green grunt suits opened fire on the gunpla in front of them, firing intense, red hot beams. The beams from the beam rifle hit the sand violently, thrusting clouds of dust into the air. As more shots were fired, more sand was thrust into the air, until the Jegans got themselves caught up in a nasty sandstorm that they themselves had created. With no sight of the Green gunpla in front of them, the Jegans grouped up and withheld their fire.

"Dammit! I can't see where he is!"

"Calm down! Wait for the sand to clear!"

As the Jegans had their backs to one another, they froze like statues, patiently waiting for all of the sand to settle down. The gentle rain of light yellow particles hitting the armor of the grunt suit was completely ignored as the Jegan pilots were desperately searching for an alternative way to track down the elusive gunpla.

Their frozen state was violently interrupted as a powerful swipe kick from the Lee gundam knocked two of the Jegan right of their feet. Floating in midair, they used their thrusters to quickly regain balance, and landed back on the desert with no serious damage. One Jegan who was unaffected by the swipe kick quickly grabbed one of the grenades mounted on its waist and threw it in the direction of the kick. After a few seconds of ticking, the grenade exploded in a burst of powerful red flames, with the shockwave knocking back all four Jegans on their backs. Lying on the ground, the Jegans leaned forward towards the explosion, urgently hoping for there to be the debris of a certain green gundam left behind.

"D-Did we get him?"

"AHH! ABOVE US!"

One of the pilots let out a terrified scream as his Jegan pointed upwards into the sky. Creating a silhouette of black by standing directly under the sun, the fighter gundam braced itself for a drop kick above all four of the gunpla. It's left leg, covered in armor and bulk, was lifted directly above the prone and vulnerable gunplas. Yuta called out his attack as the Jegans were petrified in fear

"Melee Execution: Drop Kick!"

The thrusters on the back the lee gundam were instantly activated, hurling the green gunpla down towards the Jegans at unbelievable speeds. With two lightning fast spins in midair, the left ankle of the Lee gundam broke into one of the Jegans cockpits with ease, and as the melee oriented gundam smashed into the ground, a giant explosion of sand was thrust into the air – so large that it was visible from other neighboring biomes.

With a solid backflip, the Lee gundam left the area of explosion and observed the incredible damage that he had executed on the four lonely Jegans – who were now reduced to a pile of spare parts. Yuta sighed and scratched his head.

"Geez…They seemed worthwhile too…but in the end this is what they can do…"

"Unforgivable!"

Interrupting Yuta's break after destroying the Jegans, two missles were headed straight for the Lee gundam. Yuta snickered as he realized that he had no time to dodge the missles that were coming for him at breakneck speeds. The Lee gundam raised it's right leg and slammed it into the sand below him, tossing a wall of sand right in front of the gunpla – catching the missiles before it hit the gunpla itself. Thrust back from the explosion caused by the missiles, Yuta smiled to himself as he instantly knew who fired the missiles as soon as it hit him. The green gundam stood up from the silt as he witnessed a familiar GM emerge from within the cloud of sand particles.

"Raul Machado, eh?"

"Unforgivable! For the successor of the GM to be destroyed so easily! You have got to be joking!"

"Eh? So you're here to avenge the fallen Jegans?"

"I have no quarrel with them as a team. But the way they used the Jegan was simply insulting! To lose to a melee only mobile suit with so many options for ranged attacks!"

The Lee gundam turned around to face the school-famous Custom GM Aqua that emerged from the storm of sand. Clenching its fists tightly, the Lee gundam spun around and slammed its foot onto the ground, taking an offensive battle stance.

"Don't be so harsh on them for losing to a melee oriented suit. You're about to do the same."

Even after Yuta's taunt to Raul, neither of the pilots have moved their gunpla for several seconds. As if waiting patiently for something to happen, the two gunplas simply stared at each other in the burning oasis. The plavsky particles realistically replicated the feeling of tiny sand being blown into the armor of the giant mobile suits, with the sound of a soft breeze occasionally passing through the silence of the desert. The two gunpla stood alone in the incredibly large biome of sand – as if all other gunplas have desperately tried to avoid this confrontation. However, there was one winged gundam who was casually walking in the desert, approaching the two at a leisurely pace. As the winged gundam got closer and closer, details of the gundam were clearer as it emerged from the thin curtains of gushing sand. The two pilots smiled eagerly as the identity of the approaching gunpla was revealed – easily identifying the pilot as well. Raul's GM Aqua punched its fists together as the iconic red winged gunpla stopped in front of the two gunpla, with the positioning of the three gunpla in the biome resembling that of a triangle.

"Masato Yuu, huh? I have no quarrel with you, you weren't the ones who destroyed the Jegans."

Yuta quickly noticed the rapidly rising tension among the three ace pilots, and scratched his head, desperate for a slightly more peaceful solution.

"In all honesty, I'd actually like to avoid fighting with you guys if possible, so if I could please just walk past you guys, that would be really nice!"

Behind the walls of blue plavsky particles, Masato Yuu stared at her two opponent gunpla from behind the screen of her Destiny Gundam. Without warning, the Destiny reached across to each of its shoulders and whipped out two beam boomerangs from it, spinning at blazing speeds and headed straight at the Lee gundam and the GM Aqua. The GM Aqua pulled out a beam pick from its waist, and knocked it away with a fierce strike to the hilt of the beam boomerang. On the other hand, the Lee gundam once again smashed its foot strongly into the ground, gushing up sand to catch and alter the trajectory of the boomerang, causing it to rush past the Lee gundam harmlessly. A large hiss was emitted as the two boomerang blades hit the sand, melting the particles around it, causing small whiffs of steam to rise from the sand in which it hit. Yuta scratched his head, with the situation clear that he had to fight.

"Geez, what a pain. If anything I'd really want to like, not do this, but…"

Yuu glared at Yuta's gunpla from behind the cockpit and smiled confidently yet coldly. Her malicious smile was reflected in the screen that showed the two gunplas that were in front of her.

"Now that you mention it, the three of us were locked in for second best in the school, right? I think it's time to put that to an end."

Raul scoffed at Yuu's comment, and his previously carefree and friendly personality was shifted into a more serious and deadly one.

"I don't care much for second place, but for the sake of my team, I will defeat you both."

The GM Aqua whipped around the beam pick that it used to hit away the beam boomerang, with an intimidating swoosh sound. The Lee Gundam smashed its fists together as it widened its stance and prepared for a charge. The Destiny Gundam reached back behind its wings, and pulled out a large, blue anti-ship sword that folded out as it was removed from its holster, with a crimson beam forming on the blade. Yuu, Yuta and Raul stared at each other from across the dunes as their gunpla began to aggressively charge right at each other without a second of hesitation.

* * *

Elsewhere in the giant battle royale stadium, amongst the knee-high green trees of the mountains and forests biome, a certain Impulse gundam that made a name for itself earlier in the tournament was leisurely dashing around the forest, leaving behind a trail of broken gunpla parts. Doing spins and twirls in mid air, the Searing Impulse gundam acted as if it were performing air stunts – with Mina providing sound effects as it did.

"Whoo hoo! Yeah! 1080 degrees spin! Now that's what you call elegance!"

Casually strolling behind the worryingly carefree Impulse gundam, Grind's Void striker looked around at the several gunpla parts that they had dispatched of while sheathing one of its anti-ship swords on its waist.

"Geez, we really made a mess here…look at all of these freaking broken machines!"

The Searing Impulse changed from performing Aerial stunts to performing random dance moves, that ranged from the ridiculous looking thriller dance to the strangely appropriate robot dance. As if mocking the graveyard of destroyed gunpla below, Mina danced as if she forgot that they were in a battle royale.

"Damn! My gunpla can do the robot pretty well!"

Grind sighed and placed his hand on his face concernedly.

"That's because gundams are robots? It would only make sense, right?"

"Haha, well I guess so!"

Their cheerful and carefree attitude was broken by a rapid beeping sound coming from the radars of the gunpla. Looking at the radar, it could be seen that two other unidentified gunpla were headed straight at them from the northeast- but with a loud scream and an unmistakable gunpla, Mina knew exactly who was headed after them.

"MINA TAKAHASHI! YOU LITTLE!"

The Searing Impulse turned i's head northeast, and noticed a familiar gunpla headed straight at it. Kayla Grahams from Enflamed Quintet and her repaired throne Zwei were desperately searching for Mina throughout the entire battle royale, and once they found her the bloodthirsty shine in her eyes grew. With a swipe of its arms, four remote controlled fangs shot out from the waist of the throne Zwei, headed straight at the Searing Impulse. Mina smiled energetically and childishly at the four deadly fangs that were headed straight at her gunpla.

"Hehe, you're mad! Don't be mad, be happy!"

The impulse gundam, still dancing freely, did a spin and a duck to dodge the four fangs, and then resumed dancing, as if mocking the Zwei's attack. After a few seconds of the fangs rushing past the Searing Impulse, the four red mobile weapons violently exploded into flames – much to the disgust of Kayla. She waved her arms once more, and as the side skirts of her Zwei rose, she screamed out to Mina

"Tch, those four explosive fangs missed. BUT HOW WILL YOU HANDLE TWENTY?!"

From within the side skirts of the Zwei, several more countless fangs began to shoot out from their holsters, one after another. They flew straight for the Impulse at blazing speeds – leaving a trail of light red energy as they zoomed through the sky.

"YOU'RE DEAD, MINA!"

Suddenly, a giant crimson beam cut through the path between the Searing Impulse Gundam and the twenty fangs, and as the fangs rushed mindlessly into the beam, they exploded into incomprehensible plastic pieces. Looking down towards the shooter of the beam, Kayla made out Grind's black modified Void Striker providing support to the Impulse. Grind, with steam coming out of his custom beam rifle, smiled at the shocked Kayla standing in the sidelines.

"What, did you think I was just going to let you blow up my teammate?"

Readjusting his aim to Kayla, the trigger finger of the Void striker itched as it began to slowly inch towards pushing the trigger. Right before he was able to shoot, he performed a backflip on instinct to dodge another similar beam that was intended to destroy the Void striker's beam rifle. Turning its head to identify the attacker, Grind smiled as a familiar gunpla stood before his eyes.

It was a rather unusual gundam, with pieces of brown cloth covering the body, making it appear like a hood. Looking down towards it's left arm, it was holding a beam pistol- and telling by the gently rising steam that it was emitting, it was clear that that was the weapon that was used to attack Grind. However, any gundam fan in the school could identify that gunpla in an instant despite the cloth's purpose of hiding its identity. The void striker turned around completely to face the clothed gunpla, and its grip on its beam rifle intensified as Grind called out to the pilot of the mysterious gunpla from behind the blue plavsky particle screen.

"There's no need to be shy, I recognized your crossbone gundam in an instant. What's up? Long time no see, Mike Watson, fourth member of Enflamed Quintet? Why the violent introduction?"

The clothed gunpla raised its arm and pointed its pistol directly at Grind's Void striker, as Mina's and Kayla's gunpla exchanged blows in the air right above them. A low pitched yet slightly carefree voice responded to Grind's rhetorical question as the two gunpla raised their guns against each other.

"What, did you think I was just going to let you blow up my teammate?"

* * *

Despite the titanic size of the entire arena, even people from different biomes could feel the massive bursts of sand coming from the desert area, almost to an extent that nobody would dare approach the battle that occurred within. The sound of violent explosions filled the entire biome as well as the overwhelming pressure in the arena ensured that nobody would be entering the desert biome. From within the sandstorm, a gentle glitter of pink particles were left behind as Yuta used his Destiny's wings of light to create distance between the Destiny and the GM Aqua as well as the Lee Gundam. As if anticipating the movements of the Destiny, a grappling hook shot out from the curtains of sand and grabbed the right arm of Yuu's Destiny gundam. On the other end of the grappling hook, Raul's GM aqua was tugging violently as the cable extending from its left wrist was creaking with tension. As the GM used his other arm to try and tug back the Destiny gundam, Raul grunted, severely annoyed at the amount of effort that it takes to pull back the winged gunpla.

"You aren't going anywhere…!"

Yuu smiled maliciously as she instantly found an opening to turn the entire situation around in her favor.

"No. No I'm not moving."

The left arm of the Destiny gundam reached over and grabbed onto the cable that was clinging onto its other arm. Adjusting the angle of the wings of light, with all of the thrust that it can use, the Destiny pulled onto the grappling hook cable and flung the GM Aqua out of the sandstorm straight for it, as if the destiny gundam was fishing. As the GM Aqua flew straight towards the Destiny gundam, Yuu released its left arm and prepared for a finisher using the devastating Palma Fiocina palm beam cannons for a direct blast to the face.

"I'm not the one moving, no. On the other hand, prepare to have your gunpla reduced into nothingness."

Right before the GM Aqua's face would smash into the Destiny's palm cannons, a tsunami of sand rushed towards the two gunpla, with the sand quickly engulfing the gunpla as it passed. Behind the Tsunami was the Lee gundam on one knee, with his left foot fixed into the ground so hard that a small crater was left behind. Yuta smiled as the Lee gundam stood up after unleashing his fearsome attack.

"Eh, Sorry. You two kinda forgot about me so I unleashed my fury through a sand tsunami. I hope that's alright with you guys."

From underneath the piles of sand, the Destiny gundam burst out violently, and used its wings of light to dash straight towards the Lee gundam, with its blue anti ship sword already unsheathed and activated. The Lee gundam performed a large backflip, jumping back a significant distance as the Destiny's sword smashed into the sand that was right in front of the Lee gundam. As a large wall of sand gushed up from the ground, the GM Aqua jumped up in the air and fired several missiles straight towards the Lee gundam. Noticing the dangers that were headed straight for him, Yuta outstretched the arms of the Lee gundam, and caused the entire body of the Lee gundam to rotate like helicopter blades at an insane speed. Instantaneously, a thin barrier of sand was created around the Lee gundam as it continued to rotate, and despite the incredible speeds of the missiles, the wall as formed fast enough that the Lee gundam was shielded from the full impact of the projectiles. As they hit the sand wall, the green gundam was knocked back, but with another simple flip, it was very easily able to land on its feet.

Suddenly, a large beep came out from the plavsky particle machines, followed by its iconic robotic voice.

"Field change"

Rapidly, the particles that resembled sand underneath the feet of the three gunpla began to dematerialize, causing the pilots to activate their thrusters to eject themselves into the air as the sand particles below them devolved back into blue plavsky particles. The blue plavsky particles then reformed, while still retaining their blue tint. They gently began to beat in unison, releasing pulses of white and grey from the surface of the particles. Raul smiled instantly as he realized what the field was changing too, and he whispered to himself as a beautiful blue ocean was formed beneath his feet.

"Jackpot."

The GM Aqua activated all of it's thrusters at once and dived straight into the water head first, creating a huge splash of water the hit both the Destiny and the Lee gundam. Realising their terrible situation, Yuta scratched his head as the Lee gundam tilted its head downwards to try and locate the GM Aqua.

"Damn, we messed up good. We let Raul's GM aqua head into the water. We might as well just go home now, eh Yuu?"

The Destiny Gundam had not moved a single inch after Yuta's comment, and Yuu's silence backed up the idea that she was not in the mood to talk to her competitors. The Lee gundam continued to look down towards the water, attempting to locate any signs of movement that could be from the GM Aqua.

"Seriously though, we can't even locate the dude. How are we supposed to fight him?"

A small circular patch of the deep blue ocean turned gray, much to Yuta's excitement. Zooming in on the patch to confirm it's existence on the pilot's commands, Yuta smiled as he convinced himself that he had located the hiding spot of the GM Aqua.

"Found you! Now-"

"That's not him"

Yuu confidently broke her silence to inform Yuta of his mistake, although he didn't understand Yuu's logic behind her conclusion. However, after a few seconds, more and more gray patches began to appear, causing Yuta to sigh as he realized it was just a dud. The patches grew and grew, and Yuta instantly knew what the grey patches were after a few second of pondering.

Bursting out from the surface of the water, several missiles were approaching Yuta's Destiny and Yuta's Lee gundam at an insane speed. Activating the beam shield mounted on her wrist, the Destiny gundam welcomed the missiles, having it all explode on contact with the beam shield, leaving the Destiny gundam itself completely unscratched. Yuta's approach to the situation was a lot luckier, as with a clutch dodge and a lucky duck, the Lee gundam evaded the missiles, causing it to explode directly behind it.

Mere seconds after the missles hit Yuta and Yuu, more gray patches began to appear on the water. Having just recovered from his lucky evasion of the previous missiles, Yuta grunted as he realized that the offensive melee gundam that he had built may have been a bad decision. The second wave of missles left the water, and once more Yuu welcomed the missiles with the Destiny gundam's energy shield. At this point it was clear that it was a heavily modified energy shield- the original energy shield of the destiny would have never been able to take so much damage without flinching.

Yuta sighed as his gunpla stood in front of the missiles, completely motionless as if he had accepted his fate of being destroyed.

"I really didn't want to have to reveal this at this stage of the tournament but, oh well, you can't be picky in life."

A few meters before the missiles made contact with the Lee gundam, without warning, the thrusters on the missiles were instantly deactivated, causing it to dive straight into the water below. As the water exploded into the sky as the missiles hit, the Lee gundam's V fin, which was previously the standard yellow, was glowing golden. Yuta watched eagerly as the Lee gundam remained compleltey unharmed from the second wave of missiles.

"Melee Anti-Execution: Disruption."

Yuu quietly observed the Lee gundam from a safe distance as it's V fin reflected a golden, bright light in the sunlight. She quietly whispered to herself as she estimated the characteristics of the technique

"If I were to guess, I'd say that the V fin release some sort of wave the disrupts the system of the thrusters in the missiles, which would explain why they just died before they hit him. What exactly is the extent of this power? Could it affect the entire thruster system of Gunplas too? In which case…"

The destiny swung it's arm around, and it's closed wings opened in a beautiful pink light. The small particles that the wings were releasing were gently spreading all over the ocean sky. Yuu continued her observations and contemplation of the system that Yuta had just revealed.

"The wings of light aren't counted as thrusters in the Plavksy particle database – meaning regardless of his power I should still be able to stay afloat above the ocean."

From directly under Yuta, another patch appeared. However, it was not like the ones before, it was bright red, and it was coated in a bit of white. Instantly recognizing it, the Lee gundam pointed it's thrusters backwards to avoid the red hot beam that was coming right for it from underneath the surface. Seeing this as her chance, Yuu instantly drew her High energy long range beam cannon that was mounted on the wings, and fired it straight at the area where the red patch was.

The massive red beam that shot out from the Destiny's beam cannon crashed straight into the water, even evaporating some of the water from the surface as it dived deeper into the ocean below. Within a few seconds, a giant torrent of water shot up from below as the beam hit the surface of the ocean, causing shockwaves of wind that pulsed through the waters. As the torrent subsided, from within the torrent, the GM Aqua stood motionless, holding its broken beam rifle that was missing its entire front half. Raul folded his hands from behind the pilot seat, and applauded Yuu for her brilliant intuition.

"Brilliant! Well played! To think that you were able to locate me just by the angle of the shot from the beam rifle. Indeed you are worthy of being my equal!"

From behind the blue walls of plavsky particles, Yuu remained completely unfazed at Raul's compliments – as if she were ignoring them as a whole. She smiled, and elaborated on Raul's praise with her emotionless voice.

"You can fire several missiles using several different types of equipment. But you can only fire one beam, and that's from your beam rifle. You always have to hold your beam rifle with your hands, so even a toddler can tell where to locate you."

Raul turned his attention to the Lee gundam that stood beside him, whose V fin was no longer shining in the gold hue that it was before.

"And that disruption system. Very impressive work, Yuta. Smart of you to use that system to counter my missiles."

Yuta scratched his head nervously as Raul praised his actions of denying his attack, and even sending it back towards the water.

"Well, it's kind of weird to be praised by my enemy, but thanks I guess…"

"Indeed we are perfectly matched! Perfectly tied for second place!"

The Destiny gundam's beam cannon folded back together, and Yuu then pulled out the blue Arondight sword, with the sword unfolding as it was swung downwards. Responding to the Destiny's preparation to attack, the GM Aqua pulled out two beam picks, whose beams were red hot and much more concentrated than the beam of a beam saber – although much shorter. Yuta punched his fists together as the Lee gundam took a martial arts battle stance, preparing to fight once more.

The battle machine called out in it's robotic voice.

"You are now halfway through the time of the Battle Royale."

* * *

Author's note

Heyo! It's Nekronous here! Sorry for the slow update on the chapter. I just figured that because the last two chapters felt very sub-part to me, by removing the release date of the next update, I could allow myself more time to write a longer and better chapter for you guys. Before I felt as If I kinda was held back by the release date so I had to rush it a bit to get it on time – which of course takes its toll on the quality of the chapter. But from now on, I really hope to be able to take more time on each chapter until it's a standard that I want it to be. So sorry for the slow releasing and I hope you understand the reasoning behind it.

This chapter was brought to you by the amazing OC character creators, this chapter could not have been done without you guys. Thank you so much to

Kintoki Kin , the creator of Masato Yuu

Bronyhood of Steel, the creator of Raul Machado

And last but not least the anonymous "guest", who created Yuta Kitano through the reviews section.

Chapter 8 – The secret of the flight booster will be coming soon!

Have a nice day!


	10. Secret of the Flight booster

The cheers and applause from the audience filled the stadium, as an incredible variety of different gunpla from several teams flew around the giant stadium, exchanging blows and beams. Looking at the battlefield itself, it was easily noticeable that several gunplas have already fallen in battle, as broken beam rifles, cracked armor plates and scrapped gunpla limbs lay scattered all around the arena. All of the remaining gunplas were locked in fierce battles against one another, with several duels and conflicts occurring all over the stadium at once, from the intense three way battle between Yuta, Raul and Yuu, or the tag tea battle between Grind and Mina against Kayla and Mike. However, shortly after halfway through the battle royale, a certain battle occurred that caught the attention of every spectator present in the stadium.

Looking down at the battles from the vast emptiness of space, Kosetsu's Sapphire Exia zoomed around rapidly, shortly followed by Mitsuo's Armored Gelgoog. They departed from what seemed like a massive battle where they emerged the victor, leaving behind the debris from 4 broken and demolished gunpla. The only casualties to Team Carbon visible were a few barely noticeable scratches on the Sapphire Exia's left shoulder.

The Sapphire Exia suddenly halted, and froze in spot. It tilted its head down and observed the miniature explosions that occurred in the biomes right below her. From space, the massive earth shattering explosions seemed like little sparks of red that appeared and faded instantaneously. From behind the light blue crystal walls of thin plavsky particles, Kosetsu stared blankly at the screen present in front of her. With a flick of her wrist, she adjusted the zoom on the view, and focused it down to a single battle on a single biome. Kosetsu's wide azure eyes reflected the battle of a certain impulse and strike gundam, furiously attacking a throne Zwei and a crossbone gundam. Through in-cockpit voice and video communication, Kosetsu contacted Mitsuo in his Custom Gelgoog.

"Now that we've taken care of that wandering team, I think the best course of action would be to head down and provide backup to Grind and Mina."

Mitsuo's Custom Gelgoog turned downward to face the battle below, and prepared its thrusters and shield for atmospheric entry. Its glowing red mono-eye reflected bursting yellow explosions that broke the land below. Blue flames began to slowly pump out of the several structures protruding out of the Gelgoog's backpack as it prepared to jolt downwards to assist the Searing Impulse and the Void Striker. Although the Gelgoog was all ready to head downwards, the Sapphire Exia had not shifted and inch. It was still gently floating in space- as if it had no intention to join the Gelgoog at all. Confused by Kosetsu's lack of movement, Mitsuo opened his voice communication to question Kosetsu's actions.

"Hey, you joining me? This is your idea after all"

From the within the video displayed in the voice communications, Mitsuo noticed a drastic shift in the nature of Kosetsu's eyes. Whereas before they were relaxed and gentle, they now shone of a maleficent and deadly light. Kosetsu's Sapphire Exia unfolded its GN sword, and took an offensive battle position, much to the confusion of Mitsuo.

"K-Kosetsu?"

However, after a few seconds, his confusion was quickly cleared as an enemy mobile suit was approaching them in the form of a blinking red dot displayed on his radar. Mitsuo immediately recognized the situation, and smiled to himself as his Gelgoog began to take off in a blinding blue light.

A gentle, feminine familiar voice taunted Kosetsu through voice communications, as a terrifying silhouette of a formidable red gunpla began to approach the Sapphire Exia.

"Hello, Kosetsu. How are you faring in this battle royale so far?"

"A few scratches here and there, but nothing you need to worry about, Elisa."

The ace gunpla of the defending champion personally went face to face with the gunpla of a newcomer whom the school had never seen before. It was inconceivable – the strongest gunpla to ever set foot on the school stadium to go out of its way to face a newcomer it had just met yesterday. Elisa confidently smirked, and flicked her hair gracefully.

"Oh? That's rather rude. Your Exia is rather powerful as well…although I knew of an Exia who was even stronger."

"You came here to fight not to talk, Is that right? Elisa Ayumi?."

* * *

The clouds parted as Mitsuo's Gelgoog dived in from space right above the raging tag-team battle. Its shield that was being used to cover the face of the Gelgoog began to burn up as it entered the atmosphere, leaving a trail of red fire as it came closer to the surface.

Suddenly, a rapid beeping noise came from within Mitsuo's plavsky particle formed cockpit that quickly alerted him to two quickly incoming missiles from behind. Afraid to turn around to block the missiles using the shield as atmospheric entry would burn up the backpack of the machine, Mitsuo grunted at his lack of options as the missiles closed in on the Gelgoog.

With barely any time to reconsider, Mitsuo decided to allow the missiles to just hit the Gelgoog's rear, sacrificing sustainable damage to the thrusters in exchange for his shield which was still usable despite being burnt up from the atmospheric entry. A violent bang followed by a large explosion erupted over the heads of Mina and Grind, as they fought fiercely against the Zwei and Crossbone that stood before them confidently.

From behind the blue walls of plavsky particles, Kayla smiled maniacally as she watched from her Zwei's eyes a red Gelgoog fell from within the cloud of smoke. It turned uncontrollably, and was about to crash into the forest biome below. Mitsuo grunted, and he desperately tugged and pushed the plavsky particle controller to regain command over the decimated Gunpla. After a few a few flinches from the remaining leg thrusters and a few backpack thrusters, the Gelgoog regained balance, and was gently floating below the giant smoke cloud that hovered above the entire biome. Dragging his hand around the plavsky particle walls, Mitsuo brought up an image of the Gelgoog that assessed the damage it had taken.

"Tch, this is going to be a pain. 68% of the thrusters on the backpack are now completely unusable. Whoever fired those missiles has incredible aim. To take these thrusters out so easily."

Before Mitsuo had time to fully assess the damage taken, the bleeping noise once again emerged as two more missiles dashed through the smoke cloud, headed straight for the Gelgoog. With barely any time to react, the Gelgoog brought out it's half-destroyed shield and braced for another heavy impact.

Suddenly, two beam from below rushed upwards and blasted both of the missiles at once, causing a loud, violent explosion to occur mere meters away from the Gelgoog. Mitsuo sighed as he looked down at his saviors, in the form of an Impulse gundam and a Strike Gundam. Mina energetically fiddled with the voice communication settings, and created a three way video call between Mitsuo, Grind and herself. She started off the call with an energetic howl

"WHOOOOOO! Dem missile headshots!"

"Yo, Mitsuo! You're in pretty bad shape huh?"

"Thanks guys, you saved me!"

"More importantly, who fired those missiles?"

The three gunpla looked upwards, and as the smoke began to clear, a familiar, revenge-powered gunpla stood above them, looking down confidently. Grind gulped as he recognized the dark red glow in the gunpla's eyes, and the several missile pods on its shoulder.

"Dammit. Spencer's Chaos bullet…Enflamed Quinter are really out to get us."

Spencer laughed maliciously as his two teammates took to the skies to stand by him. He opened his microphone for everybody in the battle to hear, and he viciously taunted the three cornered members of Team Carbon.

"Listen up, you mongrels. I'll pay you back big time for the humiliation you gave me in the first round. I won't be kind."

The three gunplas of Team Carbon stood on the forest ground, with several trees in the vicinity broken and torn down. The remaining, much larger trees went up to even the gunpla's shoulders, and acted as a strong hiding area if neccecary. Grind calmed himself, and he spoke slowly and carefully to each of his teammates- as if he were nervous that the members of Enflamed Quintet could eavesdrop on their group call.

"Listen to me closely. We have to get away – if we fight now it'll severely hurt our chances of being in the finals. We can head under the trees and out maneuver them. I'll stay back and keep them busy- you guys have to get out in the meantime."

Mitsuo instantly objected, and he raised his own point

"No. I'll be the bait, my gunpla is practically a moving wall at this point. Without my primary thrusters, I won't be able to move out so easily anyway"

From the skies, the Chaos bullet pulled out a single grenade from its side skirt, and prepared to throw it towards the three gunpla. Taking notice instantly, Mina suggested a much safer and logical plan. Her voice was much more serious and collected than normal.

"There's no need for bait- just watch Spencer. Once that grenade hits the ground, we'll all dart into the trees and head out. We'll all regroup later."

The grenade left the hands of the Chaos Bullet, and was about to hit the ground at an incredible speed. Mina watched closely as the grenade approached the ground, and when it was a few seconds away from hitting, she shouted

"Now!"

The three gunpla darted into the trees as the grenade was about to hit the ground, and was confient in their escape. The grenade hit the forest surface, and the three gunpla were in the trees already – nowhere to be seen. As if predicting their movements, Spencer laughed crazily as instead of an incredible explosion, the grenade violently erupted into flames, setting the entire forest on fire.

"Just like I predicted. Run rats, run!"

Mina instantly halted her escape as trees started to burn and collapse right in front of her. Mitsuo and Grind were forced to turn back as well, and before they knew it, the three members of Team Carbon were locked in a prison of fire, with three terrifying opponents in the sky looking down on them.

* * *

Within seconds, large asteroids floating aimlessly in the void of space were broken and sliced apart by the raging battle between the two melee oriented red and blue gunplas. Leaving trails of crimson and azure wherever they dashed, the black, emptiness of space was painted with light ribbons of red and blue. The canvas in the sky painted by the two gunplas were notice even by the fighters in battle below on the surface. However, anybody that took the time to notice could easily tell that the red trails easily overpowered the blue trails.

As the sharpened GN blade of the Exia clashed against the dense yellow beam saber of the Legilis, a raging white spark would always appear at the point of contact- so bright that from the surface, it seemed like a white star. It appeared and then faded within a matter of seconds, but by then the two gunplas would have already rushed past each other, ready to turn around to clash swords once again.

Taijin peered over on the video display on his screen, and noticed something peculiar about Kosetsu. Whether it be in the most intense of battles or the most mundane of tasks, she would never show any emotion whatsoever. Even now, fighting against arguably the strongest competitor in the entire tournament, her large azure eyes always shone of innocence and purity. His trance of staring at Kosetsu was disturbed by her very voice calling out to him from the voice communications.

"Taijin."

Despite the situation, Taijin was still fascinated about the lack of emotion in her voice. Looking at Kosetsu as she was now, nobody could tell whether she was having difficulties fighting against Elisa or not. Shaking his head to clear his mind, he responded to Kosetsu with a worried voice

"Hey, you alright?"

"Send out the flight booster down below to help out the guys there"

Immediately, Taijin opened his operator panel and proceeded to assess the damage dealt to all of the gunpla in the team. Despite only being taught how to be an operator by Cindy just a few weeks earlier, in seconds, Taijin was able to identify the situation. He instantly reached for the Flight booster, which was waiting idly in the black briefcase that he carried beside him. Before he opened the case however, he got an incoming call from Mitsuo. With his left hand fidgeting with the padlock securing the briefcase, his right hand accepted the call and opened communications with the other three members of the team. Mitsuo started off the conversation ignoring all formalities and heading straight to the point.

"Eh, we don't really need the booster right this instant. We can last a bit longer, or at least long enough for you to get down here"

Grind butted in instantly and urged the team to reconsider the idea of sending out the flight booster.

"So your plan is to send out the flight booster, have it dock with the Exia just so it can run it's way down here to save us? Well first of all if the Exia's heading down, without a doubt Elisa will follow. And if Elisa manages to shoot down Taijin's booster, that's an easy-"

"I'm not running from this fight"

Kosetsu's cold, chilling yet gentle voice cut through the entire conversation, bringing all of the members back to their senses. Mitsuo scratched his head in confusion, and raised a very important question.

"So if you aren't running away with the extra speed boost, why exactly do you need the flight booster?"

Taijin smiled confidently from behind his transparent light blue cockpit.

"The flight booster isn't only for increasing speed, you know."

With the blue jet model in his right hand, he looked at the video communications screen to make sure that Kosetsu was serious about it. He saw Kosetsu nodding confidently, with her blue eyes shining of self-assurance and strength. Taijin placed the booster on the platform and prepared his cockpit for controlling the jet fighter. After a few seconds on the launching pad, the red lights that surrounded the fighter suddenly turned green, and Taijin was ready to send out the booster into battle.

"Taijin Sakamoto. Flight booster. Heading out"

A gray portal opened up in an area of space not too far from where Kosetsu was- and the blue jet dashed out of the porta straight towards the battle between Kosetsu and Elisa. Despite the booster approaching the Exia at blazing speeds, the red Legilis showed no sign of wanting to shoot down the booster, let alone even look at it. Confused at the lack of enemy movement, Taijin suspected something was going on, and he varied his movements and path towards the sapphire Exia. Ranging from zig zag movements to exaggerated barrel rolls, Taijin tried his best to minimize the likeliness of being shot down. Elisa smiled subtlety as she watched the booster go to excessive lengths to avoid being shot down. She called out to them from behind the piloting chamber.

"It's perfectly fine. Go ahead and dock. The closer you get in strength to that Exia, the more fun it'll be for me."

Kosetsu turned the Exia around and began to approach the booster slowly. Even though the two gunpla were merely a few seconds away from docking into a much stronger form, the Legilis showed minimum concern. Taijin asked Kosetsu through the communications system

"Hey, what's going on?"

The Exia turned its back to the booster that was approaching it, ready to dock with the blue jet. Despite how vulnerable the Exia was, Elisa showed no sign of wanting to attack.

"Who knows? I think she really wants to fight us at our best"

"Well, that's a mistake that she'll soon regret."

The blue jet decelerated, and slowed down its speed to perfectly synchronize itself to the Exia. The cockpit of the jet folded over, revealing a slot for the Exia's GN drive to slide into. The two machines, approached, and as the back of the Exia slammed into the core of the booster, the two gunpla became one angel-like sapphire beauty. Spreading its new blue wings wide, the Sapphire Exia pointed its GN blade directly at the face of the Legilis, who was idly standing at the sidelines. Elisa stretched her arms, which were growing tired from waiting for the Exia to get ready. Kosetsu smiled gently, and prepared to charge right at the Legilis. Placing her hands on the yellow controller orbs, Elisa smiled eagerly as well.

"So, Kosetsu. Shall we begin this dance?"

At the blink of an eye, the blue winged gunpla that was previously several meters away rushed right up in the face of the Legilis, preparing to swing down its shining blade of silver death. As it swung down to slice the Legilis in half, Elisa dodged the attack with a sidestep to the left, leaving the sword to rush right down past her. To counter the attack and to capitalize on Kosetsu's vulnerabilities, Elisa called forth a yellow beam saber that rushed out from the palm of the Legilis' hand. But before she could even aim her swing, all that remained was a trail of blue exhaust where the Exia once was.

"Good! Very good Kosetsu! More!"

The Exia charged right at an asteroid, and it slammed its feet right into it. Kosetsu aimed her blade at the Legilis as she planned for the Exia to pounce right off the asteroid at blazing speeds to take out the Legils with one clean slice, in the same way that she defeated Spencer in the first day. Elisa smiled, as she tilted her Legilis to point the yellow blade right at the Exia to counterattack.

With a violent rumble, the Exia blazed right off the asteroid, right at the Leglis at an insane speed – with her wings fluttering behind her like a butterfly. The Legilis responded quickly and decicively, charging right at the Exia as well. With a swift rotation from the Legilis and a brash slice from the Exia, the two gunpla rushed right past each other with a loud sizzle.

The Legilis decelerated, having blocked the attack confidently with her beam saber. The Sapphire Exia left unharmed as well, with the exhaust smoke of the thrusters dying down as it rested. Kosetsu's azure eyes widened in surprise as she turned around to see the Crimson Legilis completely unharmed. She whispered to herself nervously

"No way…had she just seen the attack yesterday and she can already block it?"

Panicking nervously, Kosetsu headed to another asteroid to try it again, assuming that it was just a fluke. Using the newly gained speed from the flight booster, she reached another asteroid in mere seconds, and prepared to use her pounce slice attack once more. Elisa smiled as the red feet of the Exia slammed into the rocky surface of the asteroid.

"Checkmate"

Suddenly, Taijin heard a loud beeping sound coming from the hazard panel. He glanced at the Sapphire Exia's field of view, and noticed several small yellow beam remnants hidden under some brown dirt on the asteroid's surface.

"Kosetsu! Get away now!"

Taijin's warning came too late, as mere seconds after Kosetsu landed on the asteroid, the previously hidden yellow beam bits expanded in size, and overwhelmed the Blue gundam on the asteroid. After a few seconds of unparalleled rapid growth, the yellow orbs exploded violently, reducing the asteroid into a pile of space debris and engulfing the blue gunpla on its surface into a cloud of fire and smoke. The Legils stood a fair distance away from the explosion as it watched the fire die down - leaving little sign of the Exia.

"So the beam mines do work. Interesting, I'll make a note of that for further use."

The smoke continued to fade slowly, but there was no sign of the Exia's' presence. No silhouette that stood visible in the smoke, or no broken parts that belonged to the Exia. The Legilis relaxed its tensed body for a bit, realizing that the Exia was blown into smithereens in the explosion.

"Kosetsu, you dissapo-"

Interrupting her sentence mid-way , Elisa rotated her wrist on the controller, which caused the Legilis to reactivate it's beam saber to swing it backwards, intercepting a silver GN sword that was being swung right at it. Like a ballerina, Elisa spun around, and forced back the oppressing gunpla that almost took off the head of her gunpla. The Sapphire Exia stood behind the Legilis, missing its entire left leg from the knee down to the explosion.

Despite being caught off guard, Elisa regained composure and smiled at the blue winged machine that stood before hers.

"Not bad. But you're in pretty bad shape, huh?"

Kosetsu smiled innocently, with her blue eyes reflecting the projected light coming from the plavsky particle screen.

"Well I didn't really expect that you would be able to nullify my attack , let alone counter it within the span of a single day."

Taijin instantly contacted Kosetsu through video, panting heavily from panic.

"We're going to have to use it."

"Yeah."

The Sapphire Exia pointed it's GN blade that was dulled and cracked from so many clashes against the Legilis' super-dense yellow beam saber. Kosetsu sighed, and called out to Elisa who was smiling confidently, yet gently.

"Don't worry. We've still got one more trick under our sleeves."

Kosetsu tilted her attention to her pilot screen on her cockpit. She tilted her controller and pressed a button on her index finger to bring up the weapons menu. She scrolled right until she reached the very end of it, where her cursor hovered above a special tab that read "SP-01". She looked above to the video communications, and nodded at Taijin, who nodded back confidently. At the same time, they screamed out with pride and passion

"Overclock system – activating!"

Slowly, the sound of the Exia's GN drive could be heard violently roaring and spinning from inside the flight booster's thick interior. The surface of the Exia that was a clean, light blue began to shine with an ethereal white glow. Steam started to rise from all the surfaces of the Exia, from the tips of the wings to the thick shoulder pads. The two wings of the Sapphire Exia opened up and spreader out, with streams of burning hot steam rushing out of the now pearl white wings. Taijin immediately shuffled his hands around the controller, and maintained control of the Exia's functional systems.

"All systems green! You've got around 5 minutes!"

"That's more than enough"

Within the blink of an eye , the white hot Exia rushed past Elisa's legilis, and as it did, a red ring formed around the Legilis' right arm. The Exia pointed it's sword at the Legilis, as its right arm began to slide off its body , leaving a flat, clean cut. Elisa's eyes widened in a mixture of shock and joy as she watched her right arm explode into an unrecognizable mess of red plastic

"Yes…Yes! This is much better! Much closer!"

The Legilis tilted it's head up to look at the new version of the Sapphire Exia, which was covered in an intense layer of burning hot steam coming from the GN drive's overclock. Its wings were spread wide, and it had just one sword. Despite missing a leg, the Sapphire Exia looked as intimidating as a divine beast looking down on a petty mortal human. Elisa began laughing widly as the Exia charged right at the Legilis, leaving behind a trail of white exhaust.

"COME, KOSETSU!"

* * *

Author's note:

I'm so so so sorry for being inactive for an entire month guys! I was on holiday in a place with no wi-fi for an entire month so I couldn't inform you guys at all. I'm really sorry! T.T Don't worry, I'm still alive and this fanfiction has not been abandoned!

I hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter! Once again, sorry for taking so long!

Chapter 10 – The Other Exia will come soon! ( In less than 1 month time, I promise~!)

Have a nice day~


	11. The Other Exia

"The itsy bitsy Gelgoog rushed down the blazing path…"

Mitsuo's Gelgoog was desperately sprinting around the flaming forest, running away from the black gundam that floated towards him from the air. The previously thick and bulky armor that the Gelgoog was covered in was wrecked, with holes and scratches covering the mobile suit's entire body. The backpack of the Gelgoog was practically destroyed – eliminating any possibility of retreating in the air. The large oval shield that Mitsuo relied on to block attacks was reaching its limit as the layers of plastic on the shield grew thinner and thinner from the intense heat that spread across the entire biome.

"Down came the missiles…"

Maniacally singing in a nursery rhyme like manner, Spencer deployed and aimed his shoulder missile pod right at the red mobile suit down below. Despite the Gelgoog's color reflecting the color of the fire, the grey joints and bulky movements easily distinguished it from the fires. With a satisfying beep sound, two red missiles shot out from the Chaos Bullet's shoulder.

Noticing the two missiles headed straight at him, Mitsuo made a risky sacrifice and threw his red shield right towards them. The missiles hit the shield point blank, and despite losing a shield, the explosion occurred right above the head of the red Gelgoog, protecting him from any further harm. Mitsuo coughed as he opened his machine's system summary, and observed that the Gelgoog was reaching its limit. Despite blocking the attack of the Chaos bullet, all of the machine's systems were in jeopardy. Without a doubt, if even one of those two missiles hit the Gelgoog, it would have been fatal. And now, with his shield, avoiding another attack would be near impossible. Spencer laughed chaotically as the fires below shone a red, maleficent light from under the Chaos Bullet.

"Well normally it's down came the rain, huh? I bet you wish it were raining right?"

Looking around the biome, more than half of the forest was reduced into a pile of black soot and ash. Although at this point, the appearance of rain would be beneficial but by no means would it be table-turning.

Suddenly, a few drops of water hailed down from the sky. More drops started appearing, slowly raining down on the flaming trees. With a satisfying hiss, the fires of the forest biome were slowly starting to die out. The clouds above in the sky were still completely unchanged, a bright blue hue with barely any clouds present – yet the rain just came out of nowhere. The miniscule raindrops were gently falling from the sky, barraging the fires and the trees with waves of water. Spencer widened his eyes in shock.

"EH. NO. I WAS JOKING."

Mitsuo gasped in shock as well – but for a different reason

"No… this isn't an environmental effect. If it was, the battle machine would announce it…so why?"

The eyes of the Chaos Bullet gunpla lit up in a dark red light. Spencer instantly pointed his missile launcher right at Mitsuo, ready to fire and eradicate the target. He hastily pulled the trigger, and two missiles came zooming right out of the missle pods.

The sound of the missile thrusters was all that Mitsuo heard. He closed his eyes, and he released his grip from the golden orb controller. He sighed hopelessly as the missiles continued to approach his red Zeon mobile suit.

"I guess this is the end of the line, huh?"

Without warning, the thrusters on the back of the missiles abruptly stopped, causing the missiles to hit the ground with a loud, metallic thud. The small, round heads of the missiles were buried in the thin soil as the rain continued to pour down on the gunplas. The Gelgoog stood, completely paralyzed with disbelief as he had been just subjected to a miracle that allowed him to live through a second wave of missiles. Spencer instantly grunted, and fired even more missiles from his shoulder. However, instead of two, eight missiles left the pods, leaving a trail of smoke as they headed straight to the Gelgoog.

"Anti-Execution: Disruption!"

Once again, the missiles instantly lost their momentum and began to topple down onto the ground, right before the Gelgoog. Mitsuo widened his eyes, as he recognized the voice that spoke before the missiles were stopped.

"That voice…Yuta senpai?"

The red Gelgoog looked behind him, only to see that the sky behind him bled red and yellow in the form of massive, terrain changing explosions. Shortly afterwards, a giant wave of water rose from the horizon, with the battle between the three ace pilots quickly migrating towards the fight between Enflamed Quintet and Team Carbon. As Raul's aquatic GM mobile suit dived in and out of the waves of the tsunami, occasionally it would launch a burst of several missiles, only to be disjointed and deactivated by the Lee gundam's unique system. Yuu's Destiny gundam was flying around with its massive pink energy wings, wielding its anti-ship sword with two hands.

"Anti-Execution: Disruption!"

As Yuta called out the move he was executing, the thrusters on the Chaos Bullet gundam suddenly flinched – turning off and then on again in an instant. Despite being biomes away, the radius of the technique was so extensive that it even had an effect on a battle happening so far away. The Chaos Bullet stumbled in the air clumsily as it momentarily lost control over its thrusters. Mitsuo smiled at Yuta, who had, unknowingly to him, saved Mitsuo's life. The Gelgoog instantly dived deeper in to the forest which was now extinguished with the gentle rain coming from the battle between three aces. Disgusted by the interference from another battle, Spencer snickered and instantly pointed his missile launcher pod right at Yuu, who he mistook for being the one responsible for interrupting his missiles.

"You little piece of crap, mind your own business!"

With a loud, high pitched launching sound, dozens of missile shot out from all over the missile pods on the Chaos Bullet's body. Even hidden missile pods on his ankles, waist armor and even his head revealed themselves, all for the purpose of eliminating the pesky interference. Yuu turned her head a bit to the right, and clearly noticed the massive wave of missiles headed right at her. She laughed quietly to herself in a sadistic manner as her red ruby eyes widened in excitement.

"You've really got some guts haven't you, Enflamed Quintet."

The red wings on the back of the destiny gundam spread wide, creating an illusion of an incredible pink winged angel. Spencer laughed back, confidently taunting Yuu with his cocky, irritable voice.

"Ha, you can say that after you survive this!"

Instantly, the destiny gundam charged directly towards the wave of missiles, and as if magic, it sped right past all the missiles, emerging from the other side where the Chaos Bullet stood defenselessly. The missiles, now without direction or purpose, exploded right behind the Destiny Gundam as it continued charging right at the Chaos Bullet. A crimson beam formed in the center of the blue anti-ship sword, and with a slice down from head to toe, the Destiny Gundam cleaved the Chaos Bullet cleanly in half. Spencer wailed in fear as all he could see in the display of his camera was the fiery red eyes of the Destiny Gundam.

"Get away from me! YOU MONSTER!"

Yuu coldly laughed as the destiny gundam extended its right arm right at the floating remains of the Chaos Bullet, which was now cleanly cut into two pieces. A bright blue light glowed in the center of the Destiny Gundam's palm. An azure light of death.

"Disappear. Palma Fiocina."

A high pitched sound filled the biome as the small blue light morphed into a massive laser that engulfed the entire body of the Chaos Bullet. The beam was so massive that it was noticed by every battler present in the event, even Kosetsu and Elisa, who were in space, took a few seconds to acknowledge the massive beam fired from below. What remained after the blue beam died down and faded into nothingness were a few tiny pieces of burnt, smoking plastic. Mitsuo, hiding in the forest, sighed in relief.

"Thanks, you guys."

Yuu turned her head towards the trees, directly in the angle of Mitsuo's Gelgoog. Mitsuo instantly noticed the redirection of her attention, and froze in fear. The Destiny then turned around and zoomed off back towards Yuta and Raul after leaving a few final words for Mitsuo.

"I have no quarrel with you. I'll deal with you when I have a reason to."

* * *

The Sapphire Exia, steaming hot from the Overclock system, zoomed around the Space Biome, with sharp, unbelievable turns. The Crimson Legilis followed up behind the Exia, except much slower, and missing a few limbs. The Legilis, which was directly behind the Exia, shot out a few yellow beams at the Exia, only to be evaded with turns and twists. With an instant 180 degree turn, the Exia went from running away from the Legilis to dashing straight towards it in a matter of seconds, and with a lift of it's sharp GN blade, the Exia swung down right towards the Legilis. Elisa responded in and instant, but was a few seconds too slow, costing her an ankle and a leg. The Exia rushed past the Legilis, and each time it did, it would take off a limb. Elisa, despite being on the losing end, smiled in eagerness.

"This is great! This is the same feeling!"

Kosetsu raised an eyebrow while keeping her composure completely neutral. She called out to Elisa with her usual cold, emotionless voice.

"You keep on mentioning this Exia and how similar I am to it. Who exactly is this Exia?"

Taijin, who was keeping a careful eye on the Exia's internal systems, pitched into the conversation as well.

"Now that you mention it, you have been bringing up this Exia a lot. What's up with that?"

Elisa gently giggled as a golden beam shot out from the Legilis' left arm. She charged straight at the Sapphire Exia, who was covered in a thin layer of white, hot steam. Its eyes glowed blue in the mist that it created.

"That's none of your concern!"

The Sapphire Exia pointed it silver GN blade in response, and prepared to clash sabers once more. The two pilots kept a close eye on their opponent's weapon as the two mobile suits came closer.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through Taijin's head. He grunted in pain as he instantly recognized the familiar pain that engulfed all of his senses

"Crap…not again Kose-"

His desperate cry to Kosetsu was interrupted as he noticed that Kosetsu's hand was on her head, panting intensely. Her azure eyes widened in pain as she released her grip on the yellow plavsky controller. Glancing over the stadium, he noticed that Elisa was suffering the same pain, as she covered her face with her left arm, with the fabric from her Hakama gently over her nose.

* * *

Kosetsu's eyes flickered as she awoke up in an unfamiliar setting – In a grassy, fenced field under the shade of a single, giant tree. She looked around. Large, tan buildings with massive glass windows. A few high tech towers all over the vicinity. Rubbing her azure eyes in confusion, Kosetsu ruffled her hair as she stood up from the grass.

"Exactly…where am I?"

Wandering around in the field, Kosetsu looked carefully at the sky above her. It was a beautiful ocean blue with neatly arranged lines of clouds. A cool breeze rushed past her, brushing her soft cream hair. She continued walking around aimlessly in the field for a few minutes, until she heard an unfamiliar voice coming from inside one of the buildings.

"I hate you! I'm not going to accept this stupid teaching style!"

Instantly looking towards the building where the sound came from, Kosetsu noticed immediately where she was. On the building she was looking at, there was a large, concrete logo on one of its outer towers.

"The Gunpla Academy? The Academy for aces?"

Kosetsu's pace quickly changed from a stroll to a sprint, as she headed straight for the building. She didn't know what compelled her to head there as soon as possible, nor did she care. She was just strangely attached to the voice that she heard a few moments earlier. She dashed to the building's front door, and as she intended to open it, her hand simply phased through the handle. Curiously, she outstretched her hand, and just as she predicted, it phased right through the front door of the building. Ignoring the phenomena completely, Kosetsu simply rushed through the front door and proceeded up the stairs towards the origin of the voice. Despite having never been to the building, let alone seen it, she had complete knowledge of where to go and how to get there – knowledge that suddenly flooded her had as soon as she heard the mysterious voice.

Phasing through a wall, Kosetsu arrived at a packed classroom full of young gunpla builders of around 9 years old. None of the children seemed to even notice Kosetsu's presence, despite the fact that she just phased through a wall right into their class. There were packed desks in the classroom, with a young female teacher standing in front of them. The blackboard behind the teacher was filled with complex equations and battle plans – definitely not something an average 9 year old would understand. Looking around, Kosetsu failed to recognize almost all of the students in the class. Almost.

A certain black haired girl stood out to her. Although she was wearing the gunpla academy uniform and not her iconic Hakama, without a doubt the girl that Kosetsu was looking at was Elisa. Looking around, another kid stood out to her. A boy with dark silver hair and bright golden eyes was standing up from his desk alone, with direct eye contact to the teacher. He was the same age as the rest of the kids, and wore the tan gunpla academy uniform.

"Your ideology is horrible! Gunpla battle is all about having fun with your friends! What's the point of destroying them completely?!"

His young, high pitched voice shouted at the teacher in front of the entire class, with his golden eyes filled with passion and determination. The teacher, who was blonde with brown eyes, was completely unfazed at his statement, and glared at the boy aggressively.

"You don't know what you're talking about, kid. Gunpla battle is a game of victory and defeat, winners and losers."

"Shut up! You're the one who doesn't know what you're talking about!"

The entire class was silent as the confrontation between teacher and student began to heat up. Kosetsu simply stood next to the wall she phased through, and spectated the events that unfolded before her.

"Okay fine. Setsuna Shirokage-kun. I'm going to challenge you to a gunpla battle."

"Fine by me, Sensei! But if I win, you have to stop enforcing that kind of ideology! The second Meijin is long gone and we don't need another person like him!"

"Okay. But if I win, you're going to have to take part in my special training routine."

Elisa instantly stood up from her desk, whilst clenching her fist. She faced Setsuna with a serious, stern look.

"Hey, stop this! You're taking this too far! If you really battle Sensei, you're going to get your gunpla obliterated!"

Setsuna looked back at her, and argued passionatley.

"Stay out of this Elisa! You know how I feel about this kind of Ideology!"

"Of course I know, but it's all meaningless if you get destroyed in the process! Think this over, Setsuna-kun!"

"You're too scared, Elisa! Remember who I am! The ace, the one and only Setsuna Shirokage!"

"Idiot! You're an ace among students! The second you enter the realm of the teachers, you're nothing but cannon fodder?"

The teacher clapped her hands, and gave the two kids a malicious, evil look, indicating the end of the argument. She glanced at Setsuna, who was gritting his teeth in anger.

"So Setsuna? Are we doing this?"

Fixing his dark silver hair, Setsuna sighed and regained his composure. He returned the malicious look of the teacher, and his golden eyes glowed in rage.

"Of course we are!"

"Well, let's head to the battle room right now, shall we? Class, come along. This live gunpla battle will teach all of you how to eliminate squirming maggots that oppose your rule."

The teacher left the classroom, and the entire class followed her out of the door. Setsuna walked out of the door was well, with Elisa giving him a worried look as he left. Elisa sighed, and rushed out of the door along with the rest of her class. Kosetsu, who was left alone in the classroom, followed them without a single word.

Even walking down the Gunpla Academy corridor, nobody noticed her or felt her presence. She even tried to talk to child Elisa, but it was as if she were deaf to her words. Kosetsu sighed, and followed the juniors to the battle room.

* * *

The battle room was massive, which was about what you would expect from an academy specializing in teaching gunpla battle. There were so many machines of different sizes and specifications, as well as shelves lined with thousands of academy-built gunpla. The blonde teacher reached into one of the display cases and pulled out a random gundam – which just so happened to be gundam age's Legilis gundam. Snickering to Setsuna, she held up the gunpla with pride.

"So, are you going to borrow a school built gunpla? Or are you going to use your own?"

Setsuna smiled confidently, and tapped a black gunpla holder on the side of his uniform.

"I'm going to use my own of course!"

"Don't worry kid, this gunpla was selected randomly. I haven't done anything funky with it, it's just a straight build."

The smile on Setsuna's face grew as he lifted his right hand to ruffle his dark silver hair.

"The Legilis gunpla. The desperate attempt of the Vagans to copy the gundams. Fitting."

Ignoring Setsuna's taunt, the teacher turned around and proceeded to walk towards a random battle machine in the room. As Setsuna followed her eagerly, he was interrupted by Elisa, who grabbed him by the shoulder. She leaned over his shoulder and whispered

"Are you sure? You don't have to do this!"

Setsuna turned around and placed his hand on Elisa's shoulder. He smiled at her warmly.

"It's alright. Trust me, Elisa. I've got this in the bag!"

The teacher and student stood opposite a single activated battle machine, ready to fight. Their eyes met one last time before the blue plavsky walls rose in front of them.

"Please set your GP base"

Setsuna pulled out a custom student ID which also functioned as GP base, and placed it down confidently. Likewise, the teacher placed down a custom teacher GP base.

"Field 1 : Space"

The walls of the machine began to hollow out, and the particles rose from within. Fluctuating in color gently, they formed structures of asteroids, broken space debris and abandoned ships.

"Please set your gunpla"

The teacher set down the white default Legilis kit, and as the plavsky particles rose to scan it, its eyes glowed yellow. The yellow controller orbs rose and formed from within the pilot's cockpit, and the teacher gently placed her hands on them.

Setsuna reached into his black gunpla holder, and pulled out his gunpla. As he revealed it from its case, Kosetsu's blue eyes widened in shock. Setsuna placed down a custom version of the Exia gundam with twin GN drives on its shoulders as well as a GN condenser where the original GN drive was. On its waist were two GN swords, and on its right arm was a GN sword III. Its left arm also had a GN long rifle, as well as shields mounted on both arms. Without a doubt, Kosetsu could tell at first glance that she was looking at a gunpla which was of world class.

"Battle start"

"Setsuna Shirokage, Rising Exia, heading out!"

The Rising Exia shot out of the launching pad with an elegant barrel roll, leaving behind a trail of GN particles. After a few seconds of silence, Setsuna called out to the teacher on the opposite side of the battlefield.

"Not going to even announce yourself in the battle? That's unfriendly."

Suddenly, the Exia did a tumble turn and dodged a beam attack from the Legilis which came from above. The Legilis continued to fire from high ground as the Exia swiftly regained its composure. As another beam approached the Exia, it simply raised its shield up. The shield opened up into two pieces, and was simply absorbed into the shield with a satisfying high pitched ringing sound.

"Hey, I've watched too many of your battles. This is how you always start off, Sensei!"

The Rising Exia turned around, and fired a beam from its gn long rifle. The beam was easily dodged by the Legilis, who was leisurely floating above the Exia. Brushing her blonde hair, the teacher mocked Setsuna scornfully.

"I thought I taught you that the gunpla on high ground will always have an advantage!"

"I thought I told you that I refuse to accept your teachings!"

The Exia dived further downwards, and hid behind an asteroid which was further down below. The Legilis froze where it stood as it watched the Rising Exia dash behind a large space rock. Opening its palm, the Legilis fired several beams right at the asteroid, with the clear intention of reducing it into nothingness.

The beams hit the asteroid one by one, but none of the beams managed to even destroy the asteroid. Outstretching its left arm, the Legilis' shield opened up, and several beam bits emerged from within the shield. They emerged several at a time, and within a few seconds, the Legilis was surrounded by dozens of little beam bits.

Suddenly, the teacher noticed a sound emerging from behind the asteroid. The asteroid began to rotate around slowly, and it revealed the Rising Exia in a kneeling stance, with its GN sword III unsheathed. The Legilis withheld its fire as it observed the movement, or better yet the lack of movement, of the Rising Exia.

From behind the screen of blue plavsky particles, Setsuna patiently waited as the asteroid continue to rotate slowly. He noticed the other asteroids in the field moving as well, rotating slowly and sluggishly floating in a certain direction. Mentally counting to himself in his head, Setsuna closed his eyes and let his long dark silver hair cover his face for a few moments.

"Three, Two, One."

Like lightning, the Rising Exia pounced up from the asteroid, and charged straight at the Legilis. With one clean swipe from the GN sword III, the Legilis' right knee was cut in half. The blonde fighter grunted angrily, as the Legilis hastily activated its beam blade and swung to the right – only to see that an afterimage of the Rising Exia remained.

The Rising Exia slammed its red feet into another asteroid a few meters past the Legilis, and instantly pounced again, rushing past the Legilis, and this time taking away its entire left arm.

The entire class gasped in shock as the ace pilot Setsuna Shirokage was actually beating down a teacher single handedly. Kosetsu gasped as well, but for a completely different reason. The techniques that were being used by the Rising Exia perfectly and flawlessly resembled her techniques with her Sapphire Exia.

The Legilis was missing two limbs, and the Rising Exia was barely even scratched. At that point, the battle became so one sided that even the audience could tell who was going to win. Setsuna pointed his GN sword III at the teacher one more time, and gave her one last warning of mercy.

"Sensei, this is your last chance. I can spare this school owned gunpla if you surrender the battle this instant."

Kosetsu moved around in the battle room, and she stood behind the Teacher. She wanted to closely observe what she would do when backed into such a corner. After all, she was the teacher. There was no way she was going to put up such a horrid performance in front of her fellow students, let alone allow her idealism to be modified or even destroyed by some random kid.

Noticing some suspicious movements from the teacher, Kosetsu waked towards the teacher, and observed her movements closely. Suddenly, Kosetsu clenched her fists as she noticed something that changed the way she viewed the gunpla academy teachers completely.

On her side of the machine, the teacher opened up a secret panel that led to the inside of the machine's mechanisms. Her left hand was inside the panel, but the students barely noticed at all as they were all crowded around Setsuna and his side of the room. It was clear that she was fidgeting with things that were not meant to be touched in the middle of a gunpla battle, much to the blindness of all of the students. The teacher glanced downwards at the panel, and smiled to herself slyly before lifting up her left hand and placing it back on the controller.

The Legilis drew its right hand beam saber and charged right at the Rising Exia. Setsuna laughed to himself at how underwhelming and unintimidating the Legilis looked. It was missing an arm and a leg, and was on the verge of being destroyed. Nevertheless, The Rising Exia drew its GN sword III and also charged right at the Legilis for one last strike.

A few split seconds before the two made contact, the yellow controller orb on Setsuna's piloting screen turned red, and displayed an error message. When Setsuna turned his wrist to slice the Legilis in half, the Gunpla failed to respond, and the Rising Exia simply froze in place as it was cleaved in half mercilessly by the Legilis' condensed beam sword.

Setsuna stared at the screen in horror. His gunpla exploded before his very eyes in a single strike, and he could not do a single thing without it. He looked down at the controller, which had returned to being normal and yellow before the particles evaporated and disappeared. The entire room was completely silent.

Kosetsu stared at the teacher in disbelief, as she smiled cockily and said

"Well you lost. Looks like you're going to have to take place in my special training. Class dismissed. Setsuna, you stay right here."

The entire battle room emptied in mere moments, nobody uttering a single word as they left the classroom. Kosetsu stood completely silently, petrified.

* * *

Two days had passed, and Setsuna Shirokage had finished his "special training". He returned back to the school as a completely different person. The positive energy that he had constantly emitted to attract all of his friends had disappeared, and was replaced with an overwhelming negative, serious and dark aura. His golden eyes that were filled with enthusiasm were now in a misty topaz trance.

He would not even talk to his closest friends, including Elisa. He became isolated and lonely, not that it was something that bothered him. He was obsessed with gaining power and becoming stronger, eliminating distractions like "friendship" and "fun". This attitude went on for days on end, and in no time at all he was alienated. He spent his lunch alone in the workshop improving his gunpla, constantly conducting tests and experiments. Any gunpla that failed to meet his standards were thrown away and burned mercilessly – as opposed to his previous standpoint where each and every gunpla should be valued.

The whole time, Kosetsu watched closely as she watched this young kid transform into a clone of the second meijin.

One day, Elisa interrupted Setsuna in the middle of his building session. She grabbed him ferociously by the shoulder and they looked eye to eye.

"Setsuna, wake up!"

The misty, trance-like eyes of Setsuna failed to acknowledge the existence of Elisa, deeming her unworthy of even the slightest moment from his time.

"I have no interest in talking to you. It will not benefit my gunpla battle skills."

He then turned around, ignoring Elisa's grip and continued to work on his gunpla. He grabbed a file to his left, and continued sanding down a particular armor piece. He showed no emotion, let alone any sign of being human. Elisa and Kosetsu stood there for several minutes, and he didn't even show any sign of sneezing of coughing. After a few minutes of silence, Elisa began to shed tears in silence. Tears that were invisible to Setsuna. She wiped them off her face, and then yelled at Setsuna passionately.

"Okay fine! I'll battle you! Just wake up already!"

Setsuna froze, and stopped sanding the armor piece right as those words left Elisa's mouth. He stood up, turned around, and waked out of the door. Elisa pouted, and followed him out of the workshop door in silence. Kosetsu sighed, and phased through the wall to follow the two students.

The two students entered the battle room, and proceeded to march robotically towards the display shelves. Elisa walked behind Setsuna, and just by looking at his back, she began to tear up.

"Setsuna-kun…what happened to you?"

Setsuna reached into the display case, and pulled out a school built High grade Exia gundam. A default exia – which was one of the least picked models in the school due to the massive number of stronger alternatives like the Avalanche Exia or the Seven sword 00. Despite this, Setsuna showed no hesitation in the model that he chose and Elisa responded just as confidently. She walked past Setsuna to the next shelf, and then reached in deep into the section to pull out a very specific gunpla. She pulled out the default Legilis gunpla, the exact same model that was used by the teacher. Setsuna glared at the gunpla in Elisa's hands, but did not show the slightest sign of emotion. He didn't smile nor frown, much to Elisa's disappointment.

The two students entered the battle machine, and they exchanged fierce looks. Elisa glared at Setsuna with pride, yet at the same time a sense of regret and remorse could be felt in lingering in her eyes, whereas Setsuna just gave Elisa an evil and heartless stare.

Suddenly, without warning, Setsuna suddenly lost consciousness, and collapsed right before the battle started. The Exia left his hands gracefully, and landed on the floor with a loud thud, snapping off its fragile V-fin. Elisa quickly rushed to his side, and kneeled over his unconscious body. She turned him over and felt his pulse.

"No way…is it fading...?"

Elisa stood up instantly and yelled at the top of her lungs

"Somebody call an ambulance! Quickly!"

* * *

Kosetsu blinked, and in an instant she was back fighting against Elisa's Crimson Legilis. She scratched her head, as for a few seconds she had an intense ringing headache that dominated her mind and body. She looked around. Taijin was panting desperately for air, and Elisa was coughing severely. The three pilots were slowly recovering from the incredible phenomena that just occurred – they looked directly into Elisa's past.

Elisa looked up at Kosetsu, still coughing slightly.

"You…you're a pilot esper, aren't you?"

Kosetsu glared at Elisa with shock, with her head still ringing intensely. The headache began to die out slowly, and as Kosetsu regained composure, she regained her grip on the plavsky particle controller.

"I get it. The constant references to the Exia. I understand."

"YOU'RE A PILOT ESPER, AREN'T YOU?!"

Elisa raised her voice and began to shout at Kosetsu, who was still in shock of what just happened. She placed her palm on her face, and breathed in systematically. In and out, in and out. Her pupils slowly dilated, and then with the blink of an eye, she regained focus and consciousness. All in the meanwhile, the two gunpla, the Legilis and the Exia, were still floating in space motionlessly.

"Yeah. How can you tell?"

"I've spent a good chunk of my life in the gunpla academy, as you saw. Did you think I haven't encountered any world class espers? Did you think I never witnessed their powers?"

Kosetsu's eyes widened in confusion. She recalled her conversation and experiences training with her personal expert on the topic, Cindy.

"I was told that espers don't have powers."

Taijin looked at Kosetsu as well. All this time he was told that espers were just like any other person once they evolved from error to esper. He was told that he was no different, and that he was able to enjoy gunpla battle just like every other person. And for a while – he was enjoying it. Without a shred of doubt, so far in the tournament he was content in playing. But now, just like in the past, he was unable to enjoy gunpla battle due to the massive pain involved in even standing in front of a single machine. If this was what it meant to be an esper, it was completely indifferent. He felt his love for gunpla battle fade second by second, as his headache grew.

Taijin's complex train of thought was interrupted as the MC screamed out to all of the competitors

"Time up! Congratulations to everyone! According to points, the top five teams are Team Carbon, Quiver, Sober dance, Enflamed Quintet and Hollow Turtle! If you aren't in this list, don't be disheartened! There are 11 other teams that are advancing to the next day, please check the points list to see if your team is part of the lucky 11!"

Despite the deactivation of the battle machine beginning, Kosetsu and Elisa's conversation continued across the stadium. Seemingly ignoring the loud cheering from the audience from all sides, the ace of the school and the mysterious pilot esper continued their conversation from across the stadium.

"It seems like you've been mislead. You might want to talk to some expert on that."

"I definetly will. And was that…that alternate dimension…your past? What happened to Setsuna-kun?"

"That's none of your business. More importantly, it seems like this is the first time you've done that."

"Of course."

"Go have a talk with an expert. Make it urgent. And also…I'm not going to go as easily on your exia the next time we meet."

Elisa reached across the machines, and took her Legilis out from the machine. She looked at it blankly. It was in complete shambles, missing several limbs and suffering several casualties. But more importantly, she felt like during that battle, she took a really bit emotional blow. Elisa coughed, and then proceeded to turn around and walk towards the stadium exit.

Taijin tapped Kosetsu's shoulder, with the strained Flight Sapphire Exia in his right hand. He gave her a concerned look as his grip on the Sapphire Exia tightened.

"Hey…Kosetsu"

Kosetsu turned around, and sighed at Taijin. She glanced at him with her usual, emotionless stare before declaring

"We're going to visit Cindy tonight. Urgently."

* * *

Author's note:

Yo, It's Nekronous here. I'm sorry that this chapter took longer than usual to make, I hope that the fact that this chapter is the longest one so far makes up for the time it took!

I have to thank a very special person for making this chapter possible! This person has been a huge help creating the entire character of Setsuna Shirokage as well as raising a great idea for Elisa's backstory! Thank you, Code-Emperor07, I couldn't have made this without you!

Have a nice day!


	12. Pilot Espers

Kosetsu and Taijin stood in front of Cindy's mansion after a long walk from the school grounds. Although they Taijin been there just recently, every time he went he was stunned at the sheer scale of the mansion. It was easily the size of an average compound, with massive white walls that barricaded the area. The mansion building wasn't the only thing huge, it only took up a small part of the walled area. There were pools, archery ranges, even an entire building dedicated to everything gunpla. It was so big that the inside of the mansion ground had its own paths with streetlights and everything. It was like a city within a city, an isolated world. The gate that the two students were standing in front of was easily as big as the school's double gate, possibly even bigger.

Kosetsu reached out and rang the doorbell on the side of the entrance. After a few seconds, faint static noises came from within the doorbell mechanism, followed by the formal voice of Cindy's butler

"Yes, this is the estate of Cinders Elizabeth La-Nicole Graham Heathers, how may I help you?"

Without hesitation, Kosetsu turned to the doorbell and began to explain her presence.

"It's Kosetsu Yukimura. I'm here to pay a visit to Cindy. I need to speak to her urgently"

The voice from within the doorbell instantly responded, and at the same time the gate to the mansion automatically swung open with a loud creak.

"Please head inside to the guest room. I shall inform her of your presence immediately."

* * *

Sitting on a classy red couch in a room on the mansion's second floor, Taijin looked around curiously. Kosetsu was in another red couch directly to his left, and she was fidgeting with her long, cream hair that seemed to glow under the natural dusk sunlight. The walls were a crisp rose red, with carefully painted roses in gold. There were shelves with expensive vases and plates in the room, and in the center of the room was a large round table, with all of the couches surrounding it. The chandelier above the table swung gently and harmoniously, and the candles in the room were already lit and shined orange little flames.

The large double door was gently swung open by two men in tuxedos, and in the center of the two men, Cindy strolled into the room. She was wearing a brown leather jacket over a plain black shirt, and of course her black gunpla holder was mounted on the waist of her jeans. Despite merely being the age of Kosetsu and Taijin, she was treated like royalty, living in a mansion full of bodyguards. She approached the two guests gracefully, and seated herself directly opposite them on a similarly classy red couch, while her two bodyguards closed the doors behind her and stood there like statues, loyally standing guard. She brushed her blonde hair as she smiled at the group and checked on their performance for the day. T

"Sorry I couldn't make it today, guys! I was kinda busy with some paperwork that I had to fill in. Anyways, how did you guys do?"

Taijin scratched his head and laughed nervously

"Eh… We did pretty well. So far we're in the top 5 teams and we're guaranteed a spot in the next round…"

Cindy gasped, and then clapped her hands gently and formally. As she did, the two men that guarded the entrance applauded as well.

"Very good! Very very good!"

Kosetsu coughed, and then raised an eyebrow at Cindy.

"We aren't here to brag about our results, Cindy. We need to talk about something urgent."

Cindy instantly changed her facial expression from cheerful and carefree to serious and mature. She turned her body towards Kosetsu, and placed her hands on the table.

"Well then, let's hear it."

"Ehh, I see. Indeed…that's not normal…even for a pilot esper. So basically you entered a world of illusion based of your opponent's past"

Cindy rubbed her chin in confusion. She then looked at one of the bodyguards and nodded, who then instantly bolted out of the room without delay. Redirecting her gaze to Kosetsu and Taijin, she asked them a few questions.

"So let me get this straight, all you 3 momentarily felt the pain of a pilot error before entering this dream-like state. And when you guys returned back to normal, you guys suffered from coughing and headaches?"

Taijin and Kosetsu looked at each other and nodded their heads in unison. Cindy then confidently.

"Hey, Taijin. Do you remember everything I said to you when you first came into this room as a pilot error who hated gunpla?"

* * *

**Seven days before the tournament**

Cindy was holding a notepad, with several notes jotted down about Taijin's diet, sleep schedule and daily exposure to gunpla battle. He gave her a confused look, which caused Cindy to sigh.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, It's just…I don't get it"

"What don't you get?"

"What's wrong with me?"

"So far, absolutely nothing. You're living the life of a completely normal teenage boy. Your habits, your schedule and your diet are all completely normal. Looking at this alone, I'd assume that you were a completely normal person."

Taijin slammed his fist on the table in front of Cindy. He had tears falling out of his eyes in frustration, and his fist was trembling.

"So why do I get this reaction whenever I'm near a gunpla battle machine! Do you know how it has affected my life now that gunpla has grown so massively big? I should be normal!"

Cindy sighed, and put down the notebook in her hands. She gave Taijin a stern, serious look, and her voice reflected her attitude of maturity and importance.

"Listen up. I'm going to try and explain everything all in one go. It's not going to be easy, and I'm not going to make this speech twice. So if you're unsure of anything, stop me right away."

The seriousness in Cindy's voice woke Taijin up to the gravity of the situation. He wiped his tears off his face and responded to Cindy with a courageous and decisive nods, with all of his tears dried off.

"So let' begin. First of all, right now, you're a pilot error. Somebody who can barely stand in front of a gunpla battle machine before losing consciousness. While everything else you do in life you can do it perfectly fine. The simplest explanation for that lies in the Plavsky particle. You know what that is, right?"

"Yeah. It's the particles that make the gunpla move around and fight. It's also the cause of the fancy effects like the biomes, weather effects and explosions"

"Precisely. But for people like you and Kosetsu, these Plavsky Particles mean a lot more. Of course, if you want the complete explanation for it, you'd have to go to the higher ups of PPSE, because they are the only people in the world who have the correct answer to this phenomena, so what I'm saying is just a small piece of the pie. A single tree amongst an entire forest."

Taijin nodded his head in approval, prompting Cindy to continue talking.

"Basically, the theory revolves around your relationship with these Plavsky Particles. Normal people can play gunpla battle for however long as they wish, whereas Pilot Errors can't even approach the battle machine. This is likely because of the relationship with Plavsky Particles. You see, the reason why normal people can do this so well is because that the particles are actually being repelled from the body of a normal person. In other words, they're actually never in contact with the particles themselves. Even when they are phasing through the pilot walls, they aren't actually touching – the particles are just being repelled away at the atomic level therefore allowing the person to seem like they are phasing through. You guys, on the other hand."

"Wait wait wait, so what you're saying is that people like you actually don't touch the particles? How the heck does the controller work then?"

"Geez, calm down! I'll get to that later! But you guys, you guys don't repel the particles. Instead, you absorb them, and take the particles into your body and becoming one. Of course, this is barely noticeable, there are billions of billions of particles in the gunpla battle machine and they are each replaced and regenerated instantly, but it does happen. And it's thought that your passing out is caused by the absorption of too many particles."

At the same time Cindy finished her sentence, a middle aged man opened the door, carrying with him a small rectangular device. He was dressed in a tuxedo and sunglasses, and he approached Cindy, giving her the device gently. She took it with one hand gracefully, and then handed it over to Taijin.

"This here is a plavsky particle generator that we've managed to get from PPSE. What it does is pretty self-explanatory I think, it generates plavsky particles. Of course it does this at a rate considerably slower than a normal gunpla battle machine, and it also has a count over here."

Cindy pointed to the side of the machine, were there were two glass panels.

"One of them shows the number of particles released upon activation, and the other one shows the number of those particles that are returned. If you're a normal person, both of these numbers should be the same. If you're a pilot error though, the number of particles returned should be lower than the number of particles released. Furthermore, the number of particles that don't return can tell us the intensity of your condition."

Cindy tapped the machine, and slowly, a thin wall of transparent blue particles rose up from its surface. Each and every particle was a different shade of blue, making the wall appear like the night sky. A number appeared in yellow on one of the glass panels.

"Let's have a look, 1000. Nice and easy number. In this wall, there are 1,000 particles. In comparison, a gunpla battle machine can have up to billions of billions of particles. Now, let's have a loo-"

Suddenly, Taijin started to breathe heavily. Signs of unease became blatantly clear- twitching, shaking and sweating. Cindy instantly took notice, and with another tap to the machine, the Plavsky walls instantly faded into nothingness. Once again, after it finished fading, another number appeared on the side of the machine on the glass panel – but this time it was a completely different number. Cindy tilted her head to observe, and her eyes instantly widened in surprise at the value that awaited her.

"Hey…What? It's down to 588 particles? No no no, that must be some sort of error. Sorry Taijin, I think we started off with an anomaly. It's not normal, even for an error, to absorb this many particles without even touching the wall. Let's go again"

With two more taps, the blue wall of plavsky particles rose from the device once more, and Taijin extended his hand towards the wall. Suddenly, without a single warning, the blue wall had simply disappeared without trace. Examining the numbers returned gave Cindy a grim look on her face.

"Zero. You absorbed all 1000 particles. This is certainly interesting. No wonder you hate gunpla battle so much."

Taijin, frustratingly scratching his head, groaned.

"Geez, so what can I do to fix this issue? This is a pretty big thing! Do you know how it feels to have gunpla battle as a part of your school curriculum and have this kind of madness happen?"

"Calm down!"

Cindy slammed her fist on the table, her sanity on the verge of breaking. A long silence.

* * *

"Yeah, I remember. With that plavsky particle machine producer thingy, right?"

Kosetsu tilted her head in confusion before Cindy cleared her throat to correct Taijin.

"You mean the particle generator, yes. I'd like to try that again one more time. With you as well, Kosetsu."

Instantly, Taijin sighed.

Cindy smiled reassuringly and leaned forward onto the table. She leaned on her left arm as she looked the two eager students in the eye.

"So, you do remember how I treated it, yes?"

* * *

"Sorry, Cindy. I didn't quite catch you there."

"I said, one way to amend this absorbing issue is to reverse the attraction of the plavsky particles. In other words, we're going to force you to repel the particles instead of absorb them"

Cindy tapped the machine in front of her once again. The surface of the machine was beginning to lose its reflective properties being tapped constantly by Cindy's carefully manicured nails. Another light blue plavsky particle arose from its surface, and glowed momentarily before disappearing into nothingness again.

Frustratingly, Taijin sighed and gave Cindy a distrustful glare.

"I really don't think this is going to work Cindy, I mean, we've tried this so many times already. Isn't there like some pill you can give me that can reverse the attraction?"

"Actually, yes. But there are severe side effects to your body that might affect your life outside of gunpla. Not to mention that they're owned by PPSE and getting a hold of them means forking over several thousands of dollars."

Cindy pushed back on her red, luxurious chair and stood up from her seat. Waltzing over to Taijin's side, she smiled at him energetically.

"Of course if you trust me, you can take my training. It should at least suppress the disorder well enough for you to play gunpla battle. Just look at Kosetsu!"

She leaned forward to his cheek, and whispered in his ear. Somehow, her tone of voice sounded dark and malicious.

"I won't lie though – My training won't be easy"

Not looking at the princess who was at his shoulder, Taijin inhaled slowly, and then smiled confidently.

"Let's do it"

* * *

**Six days before the tournament**

"I've said it once already and I'll say it again. You're an unusual pilot error. Kosetsu's situation wasn't even half as bad as yours. So if you don't mind, I'll make your training absolutely brutal."

With a sarcastic laugh, Taijin tapped the metal device in front of him. A blue wall of plavsky particles formed before his very eyes. It remained there for a few seconds, illuminating the entire room with its transparent blue light of tranquility. However, it was merely temporary, as Taijin absorbed all of the particles of the wall before it disintegrated into nothingness. Cindy, with a notepad full of information by her side, reached out to the device, and examined the data in front of her.

"Let's see…9.5 seconds before complete absorption. Taijin, we're making a lot of progress. Don't worry."

Unconvincingly, Taijin shrugged.

"This is about the hundredth time and my time has only been delayed by 5 seconds. Is this really going to work?"

"Rome wasn't built in a day. It'll take about a couple of thousand times normally, but, I've got an idea to speed up the process by almost three times:"

Cindy pulled out another small particle generating device from her left, and placed it next to the one currently on the table. She pushed them both together, causing the two deices to interlock with a satisfying clicking sound. Reaching under the table, she pulled out two more, and attatched them both on the sides of the machines currently on the table. With more clicks, a row of 4 particle generators was formed in front of Taijin. Before Cindy tapped one of the machines, she gave Taijn her usual confident smile.

"The moment I turn it on, I want you to swipe your hand over all of the particles."

Taijin instantly bolted out of his seat in surprise.

"You're kidding right? I'm having it bad enough sitting next to it and you want me to swipe my hand over all four machines?"

"Well, yeah."

Sighing powerlessly, Taijin came to terms with himself – if he didn't do what he was told there was no way he was going to be able to participate in the tournament with everyone else. Momentarily, he swallowed up his hatred for gunpla and nodded his head, cueing Cindy to tap the machines.

All at once, the four machines generated a thin layer of plavsky particles in front of Taijin. Almost instantly afterwards, he swung his arm, cutting though the wall of blue particles. With a sharp swooping sound, his hand left the wall of particles, which collapsed mere seconds after. Peeking over the machines, Cindy observed the values displayed on the machines.

"Not bad, not bad at all. Doing this instead of the previous method means that you'd only be doing this a few hundred times instead of a couple of thousand."

"Wait a second, I just noticed something. You never gave the plavsky particles any command to retract or to decompose or anything, so why did it just disappear like that?"

"Isn't it obvious? You've absorbed all of the particles by swiping your hand over the wall. There wasn't enough particles to keep the wall intact so it just collapsed."

"So you could say that I'm a plavsky particle destroyer?"

"Hmm, I guess"

Taijin sighed, as he noticed his uncontrollably destructive relationship with the international phenomena. How was he supposed to enjoy gunpla battle when he destroys the game by being there? Changing his mindset, Taijin tried to look at the ways he could repair this broken relationship and how he could become an esper.

"That's cool and all, but how exactly is this going to help with my gunpla battle situation at all?"

Cindy scratched her chin, as her brain struggled to find the right words to explain the method of her training.

"This is going to be hard to visualize, but bear with me. Say you have a coin on the edge of the table, with half of the coin out of the table, and half of the coin on the table. How would you flip the coin over without touching it?"

"Well I'd try and blow on the end that's sticking out of the table to try and flip it over that way…"

"That's exactly what this training is about. The movement of your hand across the plavsky particles is kinda like the motion you'd have trying to flip the coin. But instead of the coin that we're trying to flip, it's the polarity between you and the plavsky particles. We need you to repel the particles and not attract and absorb them, which is the most important thing in the transition between error and esper."

Shaking off their long winded conversation, Cindy hovered her hands over the wall again, ready to resume Taijin's brutal training.

"Enough talk, let's resume"

* * *

"You talked about it's attraction and how it had to be reversed, yeah, I remember."

Kosetsu nodded her head in approval, confirming to Taijin that his training was similar to her in nature and execution. Cindy put on a reassuring face as one of her butlers entered the room once more, carrying two of the metal devices that Taijin used for his training. After handing the devices over to Cindy, the butler elegantly spun around and headed back to the door- which he guarded diligently. Cindy placed two of the devices on the table, one in front of Kosetsu and one in front of Taijin. She raised her fingernails over them both, and tapped their surfaces at the same time. A light blue plavsky particle wall was formed right in front of the two students, glowing brightly before their very eyes. However, neither of them flinched. In fact, neither of them showed any signs of plavsky particle absorbtion at all. Concerned about the action, or better yet, lack of action happening before her, she leaned forward on her left arm.

"You guys, can you stick your hands through the wall please?"

Obedienty, Kosetsu reached forward. As she expected, her hand phased through the wall elegantly. Her smooth, pristine skin glowed under the light of the plavsky particles.

Likewise, Taijin leaned forward and stretched out his right hand as well, only to have it phase through the wall without hesitation.

Still, neither of them felt any sign of headaches, pain or anything at all. They were completely normal, just as they were when the tournament had started.

Cindy outstretched both of her hands and tapped the devices, giving the cue for the wall to collapse and deform. She gently took both of the devices, and closely observed the number of particles that were in the wall before and after.

"Well well, isn't this odd. They're exactly the same."

Kosetsu tilted her head innocently in confusion, whereas Taijin sighed and placed his palm on his face. Cindy sighed as well.

"For now, I guess we have no choice but to consider this a one-time event. I'll make a note of this to use as a case study. But right now, I'm not sure, but I might have an explanation for this."

Taijin and Kosetsu instantly turned to Cindy, giving her intense direct eye contact. It was blatantly obvious that she had grabbed their attention. Cindy shrugged, and began to explain her little theory.

"Remember how I said that your attraction to plavsky particles is like a coin balancing on the table? And that to reverse the attraction the coin just has to be flipped over? Well, maybe, and I'm just saying maybe, but what if both of your coins right now are standing on its sides."

Nodding enthusiastically, Taijin and Kosetsu leaned in closer to Cindy, eager to hear out her theory.

"I'm not quite exactly sure what, but what if something caused both of your "coins" to bolt up from lying down flat to standing up straight. Of course this is an incredibly rare phenomena, only about 6 people maximum in the world have been thought to be able to do this. To be able to both absorb and repel plavsky particles, or possibly do even more things that I'm not aware of. I think that with you guys, you might have unlocked something ridiculously rare called an esper power. It's basically when an esper develops abilities through plavsky particles that allow them to do pretty insane things. Take for example, the queen of gunpla battle. The red and black eyed god esper – Kirami Hatake."

That name instantly rang a bell in Taijin's memory. He did recall having a dream where he met a terrifying yet breathtakingly beautiful girl on the ocean surface under the night sky. She wore a black and silver dress, and also had one black eye and one red eye. Without a doubt, the person he dreamt about last night was the god esper. Breaking free from his daydreaming, he regained consciousness and continued to listen in on Cindy's enlightening theory.

"The god esper never lost a single match, or so it goes. She is indeed a pilot esper, and one of the strongest gunpla battlers in existence. She has disappeared from the professional stage eversince the introduction of obligatory team battles and operators, and nobody has seen her since then."

Cindy snapped her fingers, and instantly, the windows of the room changed its tint into pitch black, blocking all sunlight from entering the room. The only light source in the room was a single chandelier that swung above the heads of the three highschoolers.

"It's been rumored that she's been using these "esper powers" to manipulate the effect and outcome of the battle, although I've never seen it myself. I mean, how else would you explain a 100% win rate? It's just speculation, but PPSE might be onto her. They want her dead. So keep this quiet, or you'll also be hunted down by PPSE in order to gain more information about the god esper."

Once again, Taijin's sense of memory was aroused as more recollections of the dream came to him, piece by piece. He remembered the words that she gifted him in his dreams.

"_You cannot be afraid to take risks. You cannot change the world without getting your hands dirty"_

Cindy snapped her fingers once more, and the color of the windows returned to normal again instantly. She leaned back on her chair and smiled, figuring that it would now be a good time to change the topic.

"So, Taijin. How was the flight booster? Were my operator lessons a success?"

Taijin smiled gleefully, much to the joy of both Kosetsu and Cindy

"It was a huge success! It saved us, it destroyed the enemy teams for us, I don't think we would have made it so far if it weren't for it! Thank you, Cindy!"

"You're welcome. Now then, do you have information about your biggest competitors?"

Kosetsu emotionlessly listed the names of the major enemy teams instantly after Cindy had asked for them.

"Hollow Tortoise, Quiver, Sober dance and Enflamed Quintet."

Taijin confidently smiled, as he rose from his seat.

"Hey, Cindy, can I ask a favor of you?"

"Sure, fire away."

"I'd like to take home some gunpla parts. I'm going to develop more boosters for tomorrow."

Cindy widened her eyes in disbelief.

"Hey, you're kidding right?"

"No, I'm serious. I'm going to work on them overnight. Without them, I don't think we'd be able to take care of some of the enemy team's gunpla. They have pretty scary machines…"

Kosetsu elaborated on Taijin's comment instantly, with her cold and heartless voice.

"Yuta's Lee Gundam and his disruption system. Yuu's Destiny and its speed and insane power. Raul's GMs and their versatility. We need to be prepared for basically anything."

Cindy nodded nervously, trusting in Taijin that he's saner than he sounds.

"Alright, so follow me to the warehouse. I'll be sure to grab them for you."

* * *

The two students were back at the mansion gate, loyally accompanied by two bodyguards and Cindy herself. Taijin was carrying with him two bags full of gunpla, which he clearly intended to bring home to work on new boosters. Kosetsu and Taijin both bowed elegantly and gracefully, displaying their gratitude, which Cindy returned with one last warning before they bolted off back into the dorm house of C1.

"Like I said, be careful. Elisa knows about your abilities. You might be a target of PPSE."

Kosetsu stepped forwards and shook her hand friendlily. Much to her surprise, while her hand was in Cindy's, Cindy tugged on Kosetsu, pulling her towards Cindy into a passionate hug. While her face was next to Cindy's, Kosetsu spoke

"Yeah, thanks."

"I'll be there to watch your games tomorrow, without a doubt. Get some rest!"

"Alright, good night."

* * *

Author's note:

Yo guys, Nekronous here! Sorry for the lack of action in this chapter, but i'm sure with the last round of the tournament there will be alot of gunpla battles coming!

Have a nice day~


	13. The Breakdance

**_Chapter 12 = Yuta vs Mitsuo! The Breakdance!_**

**_Final day of the Raizen High interschool tournament_**

The school grounds were absolutely flooded with eager gunpla battle fans throughout the entire city. Even students from other schools abandoned their academic obligations to spectate this incredible event. The school gates were swarmed with people of different ages, sized and nationalities, all eager to watch the performances of the school's top teams. Despite the colossal size of the school grounds, it was barely able to fit the people who came. The tournament wasn't starting in another hour, yet the stadium was almost full.

Standing alone in front of the school gate, a suspicious looking girl watched the crowd shift back and forth repeatedly as people shoved and pushed to get into the stadium. She was wearing a hood and a cloak, completely concealing her hair, clothes and body. One thing that as not concealed though, was a single silver eye patch over her right eye. The wind brushed her cloak to the side, revealing a frilly, gothic silver and black dress underneath it before it returned to its original position. With her void-black left eye, she glanced at the crowded school before her.

"My, my. It's rather crowded in there."

She spoke to herself in an emotionless, yet malicious voice. Smiling to herself, she began to stroll away from the school grounds. Each step she took was accompanied with a gentle "tap" sound as her high heels hit the concrete. After a few paces, she stopped dead in her tracks and froze. As she did, a group of rushed students dashed right past her, blasting a soft wave of wind towards her. She sighed heavily as the breeze faded.

"Despite saying that though, I've still got something to do."

Turning around again, she began to walk back towards school grounds. As she approached the school gates once more, she laughed softly to herself. It was a high pitched, sweet laugh. But without a doubt, there was an unmistakable sense of cruelty behind it. She whispered to herself quietly

"So, Kosetsu Yukimura. Taijin Sakamoto. Let's have a look, shall we?"

* * *

"Crap guys! Run!"

Team carbon was running late. Even though the actual tournament itself did not start in an hour, all competitors were supposed to arrive 45 minutes early. Their five members dashed down the street, headed straight for the school grounds without delay. Kosetsu, with her cream hair blowing behind her, was leading the entire group with her sprinting speed. She wore a red Sinanju shirt with jean shorts, and a pink and white unicorn gundam inspired set of sneakers.

"At this rate we should arrive in about 15 minutes."

Kosetsu's usual emotionless voice was unsurprisingly terribly inappropriate for the situation. Dashing forward to try and overtake Kosetsu, Mina let out an energetic roar. She wore a massive Kshatriya jumper that was thrown over a black blitz gundam top, long skinny jeans and blue and yellow Rx-78 trainers.

"Well let's shift gears and make that 7 minutes!"

Gradually decelerating behind the pack, Mitsuo panted for breath as his glasses began to tilt unevenly. He had worn a gray Jegan shirt and green track pants.

"Guys…there's no point in increasing our speed…if we run at the pace we are now we'll reach the school in time"

Grind patted Mitsuo on the back and gave him an encouraging smile. He was wearing a massive orange Kyrios shirt and black pants.

"Hey, come on now! Show me some of that fighting spirit!"

Taijin sighed hopelessly as they began to close in on the school gates. Taijin wore a black and gold banshee shirt, black pants and the black and gold matching trainers. For the first time, Taijin looked like a gunpla fan. All of the members were carrying their gunpla holders on their waists, with the exception of Taijin who was bringing along with him a large black briefcase.

As the five team members approached the school gates at sprinting speeds, Kosetsu noticed in front of her a hooded and cloaked girl that was standing on the sidewalk. Kosetsu's azure eyes met with her black ones, and she instantly noticed her silver eye patch. Without time to reconsider, Kosetsu dashed past her, with the rest of the team following behind. Taijin noticed her as well, and turned back for a peek before he entered the stadium, only to see that the mysterious girl had turned around and began walking towards the gates.

* * *

Sitting quietly in their lobby, Team Carbon waited patiently for their calling. Although they were slightly late, the briefing didn't even begin yet. The room was cold and chilled, with all of the members relaxing casually under the soft breeze coming from the air-conditioner. There was a long silence, but it was clear from the bright smiles on their faces that everybody was happy to be here on the last day. Taijin sat daydreaming, staring at the large black briefcase he placed on his lap. He knew that all of the work he put in last night was going to pay off, and hid his fatigue with overwhelming positive energy. He wasn't the only member of the team that worked hard the night before - under the black gunpla holders of each and every team member lay a gunpla that was much stronger than it was the day before.

* * *

**1:00 AM The day before the finals**

All of the residents of the C1 Dormitory were all gathered in one large room, each of them working on their gunpla on a central table for hours. The only sound coming from the room was the slow, clunky rotation of a ceiling fan above their heads, and the occasional sound of nippers clicking or parts being sanded. With empty gunpla boxes stacked to the side of each workspace, they fiddled with their respective gunpla in front of them. These kind of gunpla upgrade sessions were not so rare in the household, except something about this session made it so much more significant than the ones before – For the first time, Taijin was there.

They worked for hours, yet barely anybody spoke a word. Focused on repairing and upgrading the model before them, they were completely absorbed in their own gunpla building rhythm

Kosetsu was the first to finish her upgrades. Carefully packing her refined gunpla into her gunpla holder, she quickly glanced at all of the other members who had yet to finish their upgrades. She gave them a soft smile, despite her knowing that none of them could even see it. Packing up her materials and tools, she silently cleaned up her workspace and left without a word – yet all of the other members could tell when she left.

The room began to empty one person at a time, with an interval of about 30 minutes for each person. The last person to leave was Taijin Sakamoto, who diligently stayed by his models and creations and refused to stop until they were perfect. Sighing in exhaustion, after a working time of more than three hours, Taijin smirked at the completed works that lay in front of his work desk.

"Right, perfect."

A soft round of applause came from the other side of the room. Instantly startled, Taijin turned around, only to see a cream haired girl in her pajamas clapping at his masterpieces. He spoke in relief

"What…it's just you, Kosetsu?"

"I couldn't sleep. So I decided to check on you."

Her emotional voice made it difficult for Taijin to tell if she was sleepy or not. Regardless, he packed up his works in a large black suitcase, and prepared to sleep as he let out a loud yawn.

"We should be going to sleep…we might be late"

Kosetsu nodded gently, and left the room swiftly and silently. Before Taijin left the room, he looked back and glanced at the workbench that they were all at a while ago. He smiled at it, before turning off the lights and heading off to sleep.

* * *

The stadium was completely full of spectators, each and every one of them eagerly waiting for the start of the tournament. Whether if it was roaring loudly, shuffling around aimlessly or engaging in heated debates, the room was overflowing with energy as the spectators filled up the arena. One certain spectator though, was headed off to do her own thing as she walked up towards the corridor leading to the team lobbies – a place which was forbidden for spectators.

Walking down the corridor confidently, the hooded girl glanced at each door she passed. She kept trotting onwards casually, paying no attention to the fact that she was in forbidden territory. From behind her, a man wearing a blue uniform with a large brown envelope hurried towards the end of the corridor, next to the stairs leading upwards. The hooded girl smiled to herself as she heard the footsteps approaching from behind. With no time to question the suspicious cloaked person in the middle of the hall, the man attempted to rush past her, but with a subtle raise of the ankle, she tripped him over, causing him to fall on the floor helplessly. She reached towards the envelope he dropped with her right hand, and quickly hid it before taking out an identical-looking envelope from her cloak using her left hand. Extending her left arm, the hooded girl made a gesture of sincerity as she offered to help the man up from his downed position.

"Oh dear, that was clumsy. Here, this is the envelope you dropped."

Without hesitation, the man took the envelope from her hand, and scurried off to the stairs after giving the girl an appreciative bow. Smiling sinisterly to herself, she softly brushed her silver eye patch as she turned around, ready to leave the lobby area.

"Sorry, Kosetsu Yukimura, Taijin Sakamoto. This is something that I'm very eager to see. It would be boring if you were up against the easy teams, right?"

* * *

She casually strolled out of the lobby area as she heard the footsteps of the panicking mailman as he hurried up the stairs.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls! Welcome to the final day of the Raizen high interschool tournament!"

The crowd erupted into loud, enthusiastic roars and cheers as the booming voice of the MC came from all around the arena. The lights in the stadium began to dim, leaving only the gentle blue glow that came from the plavsky particle machines in the center of the room.

"The way it works is super simple! I call the names of 2 teams, and then 2 randomly selected members from those teams to fight it out! The winner advances! Over on the screens, we have the official bracket that is going to be carried out today!"

Everybody glanced at the screens in the rooms, and eagerly anticipated the several exciting matchups that awaited them. However, at anybody's first glance, it was easy to tell that one certain team got the short end of the stick. From within the lobby room of Team Carbon, all the members' jaws dropped dead to the floor, as they observed their potential opponents. Mitsuo fixed his glasses as he commented on the brutal position of the team.

"You're joking right? Our first match is against…Sober dance?! Yuta's team?!"

Grind rubbed his chin worriedly as he then tried to predict their opponent after that.

"The group that we're most likely to fight after that would be…Quiver. Raul Machado's team."

Mina gave the LCD screen a serious look as she moved forward another step in the brackets.

"After that we're probably going to fight Hollow Turtle…Yuu's team. That's no good…"

Taijin trembled in fear as he looked to the other side of the bracket, where only 1 signifcanty powerful team waited for them.

"And if we make it out of those 3 fights, in order to get the title of champion…we have to beat…"

Kosetsu finished off Taijin's sentence with her synthetic voice.

"Enflamed Quintet."

Unsurprisingly, Kosetsu seemed like the only person in the room who wasn't worried about the current situation – despite being in a ridiculously disadvantageous position. If they wanted the title of champion, they would have to go through 4 top tier teams. The voice of the MC boomed through the speakers once more, interrupting the brooding of the group.

"Well well, without any further ado, let's move on to the first round! First of all, the newcomer team who just came in and destroyed everything! Currently ranking at the top 5 of all teams, please congratulate Team Carbon!"

The MC paused before announcing the next team to let the audience happily applaud the newest group of fighters to make it into the finals of the annual tournament.

"And their opponent! Known for their unconventional, unpredictable and unmatched fighting style, this team has given us an entertaining fight every time they enter the battlefield. Please welcome team Sober Dance!"

Once again, the audience roared and cheered energetically after the name was called out by the MC. Shortly after the applause died down, the MC resumed his announcement.

"Now then, it's as simple as this! We have selected two random fighters from these teams to fight it out on the stage! The winner advances, the loser is out! Now, are you ready to hear the two fighters!?"

Mitsuo sighed as he heard the sound of the wild cheers booming from outside the lobby. Reassurningly, grind patted Mitsuo and gave him a few words of enlightenment.

"Don't worry man! Besides Yuta, I'm positive that we can beat all of them! And the chances of being picked against Yuta is a miniscule 1 in 4 chance! There's no way-"

"And the first fighter coming from team Sober Dance, please come on stage, Yuta Kitano!"

The room fell completely silent as the group heard the wild applause coming from outside. The team was completely speechless.

"And the first fighter coming from Team Carbon, please come on stage, Mitsuo Kimura!"

Mitsuo let out a nervous sigh as he stood up and ruffled his hair. He glanced at Taijin, and nodded at him motivating, cueing him to stand up and head out.

"It can't be helped. I'll just do what I can."

Grind smiled at Mitsuo, in awe of his unwavering courage. Despite Yuta being tied for second best gunpla battler in the entire school, Mitsuo shook off his fear and began marching triumphanty towards the stadium, leaving the lobby room with his head held high. Just as the door shut behind him, Kosetsu called out to Taijin, who was just about to leave.

"Taijin."

"Huh?"

Kosetsu raised her arm and pointed to the briefcase that was in Taijin's hands.

"Use it."

Taijin laughed, and tightened his grip on the briefcase. He glanced down at it, and then back at Kosetsu, flashing a bright smile.

"You bet."

* * *

"Please set your GP base"

The crowd sat in silence as the players brought out their GP bases and attached it onto the battle machine. The entire stadium was pitch black apart from the blue light that came from the battle machine, gently lighting up the faces of the fighters.

From the other side of the battle machine, Mitsuo locked eyes with Yuta. Yuta crossed his arms and gave Mitsuo a friendly smirk before the walls of plavsky particles rose upwards.

"Field 4 – Mountains"

The plavsky particles from within the walls of the battle machine slowly began to turn a white, snowy color as they gently rained downwards on the surface of the machine, with other particles in the machine forming mountains, trees and rocks. Without a doubt, the plavsky particle has created an astounding illusion of a beautiful mountain, with slopes, snow and skis.

"Please set your gunpla"

Without hesitation, Yuta energetically whipped out his gunpla from his black gunpla holder mounted on his waist, and eagerly slammed it down on the area. Taijin glanced at it from behind several walls of plavsky particles, yet he was still easily able to identify key features of the machine.

"It's the Lee gundam. It's got a few improvements since yesterday, like new shoulder armor from the Age 1-titus and new, bulkier hands, most likely from the Age 1-titus as well. But compared to the work we put in…"

Mitsuo responded eagerly to Yuta's display of confidence and energy, and happily whipped out his own new and improved gunpla as well. Slamming it down on the table, Yuta smiled as he realized that Mitsuo's Gelgoog was not the same Gelgoog it was yesterday. He whispered to himself

"Nice, boy. A new shield, new backpack thruster modifications and new dual naginatas mounted on the backpack. But what's most intriguing are those huge red side skirts. Could they be…fang holders?"

Looking back and nodding at Taijin decisively, Mitsuo displayed his new-found self-confidence against one of the school's strongest all time fighters – something that would have been impossible for the Mitsuo prior to the tournament.

"Battle start"

Instantly, the two gunpla fighters grabbed their yellow controller orbs and thrust them forward, causing their respective gunpla to launch out of their catapults.

"Yuta Kitano! Lee Gundam! Heading out!"

"Mitsuo Kimura! Fang Gelgoog! Let's roll!"

* * *

Launching out of the catapult with an elegant barrel roll, the Fang Gelgoog started the match airborne, and decided to remain in the sky, looking down on the Lee gundam which descended to land the moment it left the catapult. Instantly, the Fang Gelgoog whipped out one of its naginatas from its backpack and threw it right at the Lee gundam below. As it rushed straight for the Lee gundam, Yuta smiled eagerly, as if welcoming the deadly weapon into his arms.

"Donating one of your weapons, how nice."

Right before the naginata hit, with a swift backflip, the Lee gundam easily avoided the weapon that was thrown right at it.

"Sadly, I'm not interested in taking it!"

Noticing the vulnerability of the Lee gundam, Mitsuo smirked as he rotated his wrist on the yellow orb controller, bringing up the option "SP 01"

"I never wanted you to take it."

Suddenly, six huge fangs shot right out of the side skirts of the Fang Gelgoog, heading straight for the Lee gundam. Helplessly floating in mid-air, the Lee gundam gazed at the six red fangs that were bolting straight at it. Yuta grunted, and flicked his wrist on the yellow orb controller as well.

"I'd rather not use it this early, but beggars can't be choosers!"

The V-fin of the Lee gundam began to glow gold, and a high pitched ringing sound came from within the core of the green fighter gundam.

"Anti-Execution: Disruption!"

The fangs that were blazing straight at the Lee gundam with maximum thrust suddenly lost their speed, and collapsed on the ground right in front of the target they were meant to eliminate. Mitsuo decisively opened a panel on his controller, and quickly purged the two side-skirts from the body of his gunpla. The two large chunks of red plastic fell onto the ground with a small thud, with small geysers of snow rising as it hit the ground.

"Pretty much…as I expected. I really won't be needing these anymore."

Before he could process the information going on, Mitsuo glared at the camera, and noticed the grey fist of the Lee gundam heading towards the Gelgoog. With a rushed sidestep, the Lee gundam dashed right past the Gelgoog, with its right fist extended. Preforming a swift body rotation, the Lee gundam instantly changed its trajectory, with its foot extended and ready to strike the Gelgoog in the form of a devastating drop kick.

"Melee Execution: Drop kick!"

Mitsuo grunted as he hastily pulled out his shield in a desperate attempt to block the drop kick .Barely making it in time, the Lee gundam's ankle smashed into face of the shield with a devastating thud, easily breaking the shield into several pieces. The Gelgoog was sent back from the shockwave that came from the kick, slamming into the mountainside. Mitsuo watched from the video display as the remains of his shield rained down slowly like pieces of ripped up paper.

"Like I thought, this isn't going to be easy…"

Pulling out the final naginata that was mounted on the gelgoog's backpack, Mitsuo sighed as he realized that he needed some defense against the Lee gundam's unparalleled hand to hand combat abilities. Activating the naginata with a flick of his wrist, Mitsuo observed as a long, thin yellow beam emerged from within the surface of the beam naginata. Yuta noticed the Gelgoog on the mountain side, holding a single beam blade. After a few seconds of inaction from both sides, Mitsuo smiled, as he thought to himself

"I knew it…he dosen't have a beam saber of any sort. This beam naginata should be able to cut through his fists, so all I've got to do is keep a good eye on him and…"

Within the blink of an eye, the Lee gundam was in the face of the Gelgoog, with its elbow joint just a few inches away from the chest of the Gelgoog. Yuta laughed quietly to himself as he realized the logic behind of Mitsuo's thinking process.

"I told you already didn't I? I'm not interested in using any beam sabers"

Instantly noticing the Lee gundam's elbow about to smash into his gunpla, Mitsuo speedily flicked his wrist in an effort to try and dodge the attack – but the distance was too close to avoid. He observed through his video display as the lee gundam's elbow was approaching dangerously close to the Gelgoog's shoulder area.

"Melee Execution: Elbow smash"

The elbow of the Lee gundam drove ferociously into the left shoulder of the Gelgoog, tearing off all of the layers of pla-plate that was applied there in an effort to reinforce the armor. Throwing itself off the mountain like an uncontrollable ragdoll, the Gelgoog barely survived the devastating attack from the Lee gundam. Mitsuo grunted, as he realized how easily Yuta was dominating the field of battle. Desperate to turn the tides, Mitsuo looked back and nodded to Taijin.

"You've got a trick up your sleeve, right?"

Reaching down for his black suitcase, Taijin nodded right back at Mitsuo. Hastily unlocking the briefcase with two satisfying clicks, he pulled out a jet-like model from the briefcase. Mitsuo smiled, as he could tell at first glance that it was completely different from the flight booster that he used yesterday.

The jet was brown and gray, and much bulkier than the flight booster. It lacked the wings that the flight booster hand, and in place of the wings were two small retracting rectangular shields that acted as the wings of the machine. Placing it down on the launching pad, Taijin placed his hands on the yellow orb controller that formed in front of him.

"Taijin Sakamoto. Gauntlet Booster. Providing Assistance!"

The brown booster shot out of the launching pad slowly but sturdily. Heading straight towards the Gelgoog, Mitsuo turned around and headed towards the booster, abandoning the Lee gundam. Yuta let out a sigh as he saw the back of the Fang Gelgoog heading further and further away from his gunpla.

"Hey hey…I really can't let that happen…"

Noticing the Yuta gundam's aura of hostility, the Fang Gelgoog instantly turned around and hurled it's last naginata right at the Lee gundam. Extending it's right hand, the Lee gundam simply backhanded the naginata away from him, causing it to dart right towards the mountainside, jabbing the snow with a satisfying hiss.

Meanwhile, the gauntlet booster approached the Gelgoog, and made physical contact with it's backpack. Folding over smoothly, the back of the Gelgoog firmly fit to the rectangular slot present in the gauntlet booster. The wings of the gauntlet booster rotated over, and lined up with the arms of the Gelgoog. Locking into it firmly, the rectangular shield folded over the hand guards of the Fang Gelgoog, covering its fists with a hazel glove of thick, brown plastic. Taijin closely observed the internal systems of the Gelgoog and the Gauntlet Booster, and suddenly, both the internal skeleton of the Booster as well as the mobile suit glowed green.

"Docking complete! Gauntlets activating!"

Yuta smiled as he closely observed the new form of the Gelgoog that was granted by Taijin's unique booster. As the Gelgoog raised its new armored fists into an active fighting stance, Yuta also prepared his Lee gundam into a combat position.

"It's going to go down, huh, Mitsuo?"

"Come at me, Yuta!"

Suddenly, a low pitched horn came from within the battle machine, and the snow particles in the field began to intensify. Bit by bit, the small snow particles slowly grew into massive shards of ice. A synthetic voice came from the bottom of the gunpla battle machine.

"Field change: Blizzard"

The howling of the wind began to roar loudly from within the battle machine, with the two gunpla now separated with thin walls of ice and snow. Taijin instantly opened an option on his controller, and suddenly, all of the snow particles seemed to be repelled from the Fang Gelgoog as a thin, transparent blue sphere engulfed the Fang Gelgoog. Mitsuo smiled, and looked back at Taijin.

"A small forcefield? Nice!"

"Don't rely on it too much though, it can't take more than one big hit before it bursts!"

"Not a problem!"

Suddenly, the clear bubble protecting the Gelgoog burst as the gray fist of the Lee gundam's left arm broke through the front of it, intending to punch through the chest armor of the Gelgoog. Now with enough time to respond, Mitsuo pulled out his new armored left hand, and smashed it right into the fist of the Lee gundam.

As the two fists collided, a massive shockwave was produced with snow violently thrusting up from the surface. The two mobile suits back flipped away, and landed elegantly far from each other. Taijin instantly pulled out a damage assessment screen from his operator panel, and was relieved to see that the Gelgoog had suffered almost no damage at all.

"No damage taken, Mitsuo! Just as I thought…"

Mitsuo stared at his video display in disbelief as he added onto Taijin's remark

"That's not all…"

The fist on the left arm of the lee gundam began to crumble away into the blizzard, as if it were a fragile piece of chalk. Yuta stared down at his left arm, now missing a hand.

"Hey hey, that's new…"

Mitsuo instantly charged right at the Yuta, with his fists raised and ready to strike. Yuta huffed.

"Don't get cocky, man…"

Ducking elegantly, the Lee gundam avoided the Gelgoog's punch, and was now directly underneath the Fang Gelgoog. Using his right hand to plant itself on the mountain surface, Yuta used both of the Lee gundam's legs and kicked the Gelgoog up into the air.

Dashing up to follow the Gelgoog, the Lee gundam easily rushed past the disabled gunpla, and extended it's legs once again.

"If your fists are stronger, I'm just going to have to resort to kicks!"

The extended leg of the emerald fighter swiftly rotated around, and was headed straight for the Fang Gelgoog in the form of a back-breaking kick.

"Melee Execution: Roundhouse kick!"

Taijin hastily opened a new option in his yellow particle controller, and the force field activated once more, only to be burst down moments later as the leg of the Lee gundam blazed through it. Despite the force field's speedy activation, Mitsuo still had no time to react as the kick easily broke through the barrier and directly hit the waist of the Fang Gelgoog. Falling helplessly from the sky, the Fang Gelgoog's thrusters activated to help it regain balance. The Lee gundam folded it's arms, and looked down on the struggling red zeon mobile suit below.

"Dammit! His movements are getting even faster! Taijin! At this rate!"

Taijin grunted as he closely assessed the systems of the Fang Gelgoog. On the display of the operator, certain limbs of the Gelgoog glowed red or green, signifying the amount of damage that was dealt to the Gelgoog in that single attack.

"You sure did armor up your Gelgoog well. No critical hits as of yet. Inner frame fully functional!"

"I'm not sure if it's really a good thing though. With this much armor, dodging attacks will be a pain in the butt"

Yuta sighed, and he closed his eyes. He reopened them slowly, with the white and gray plavsky particles being reflected in his murky emerald eyes. He rotated his wrist, and brought up a special option "SP-01". He decicevely tapped his finger, and suddenly, the green hue of the Lee Gundam began to glow.

"It's about time I used this. I've been reserving this for a worthy opponent somewhere down the line, but it seems like I won't be going anywhere without it"

After a few seconds, it wasn't only the green armor of the Lee gundam that was glowing. Everything from the joints to the visor began to shine with an ethereal light that illuminated the field. Mitsuo covered his eyes as he witnessed the Lee gundam transform into a figure of gold.

"N…No way…Is that?!"

With an elegant spin, the Lee gundam dashed away the snow in front of him, revealing its new, shining gold armor. Yuta tightened his grip on the yellow plavsky particle controller in front of him, and energetically yelled out to the crowd.

"Lee Gundam – Hyper mode!"

Mitsuo then opened private video conversation with Taijin immediately, and tried his best to explain the phenomena happening before his eyes in the quickest way possible

"Long story short, the lee gundam's body is composed of a lot of gunpla from the G gundam universe – meaning it can use hyper mode. We've got to watch ourselves when he's in this mode. Power and speed increase immensely."

Suddenly, Taijin abruptly opened up a panel on his yellow spherical controller once he heard the sound of the Lee Gundam's foot rotating in the snow with a quiet whoosh. The Fang Gelgoog's right arm extended as the gauntlet rapidly expanded into a large rectangular shield.

"Too slow"

The Lee Gundam, now coated in gold, zoomed right towards the fang Gelgoog. Swiftly rotating in the air, the knee of the Lee gundam smashed violently into the Fang Gelgoog's large shield within a few seconds.

Unexpectedly, the Lee gundam's golden knee tore right through the plastic of the gauntlets, ripping right through the hand of the Fang Gelgoog. Mitsuo grunted, and used his thrusters to send himself back to create distance from Yuta.

"Crap, these kind of rapid movements! With all of this armor slapped onto the Gelgoog, I don't think I can dodge fast enough!"

Assessing the damage done from the blow, Taijin realized that the entire right arm of the Fang Gelgoog was simply torn into shreds. The armor was not holding up well against Yuta's hyper mode.

"If the armor isn't doing so well, we can't just take blows…so we need speed…"

Taijin then smiled to himself, as he thought of a counter within a matter of seconds. He once again rotated his wrist on the plavsky particle controller, and brought up an option that he was reserving for dire times.

"Let's use it."

Mitsuo nodded.

"Overclock system, activating!"

Slow rising streams of white hot steam began to rise from the surface of the Fang Gelgoog's red armor, and Smokey fog began to engulf the Fang Gelgoog. The red armor of the Gelgoog shined a ruby red under the surface of white coating. The gunpla's mono eye glowed a dark, deadly red.

"Let's go, Yuta!"

"You bet, Mitsuo!"

The Golden gunpla extended it's fist and charged right at the Fang Gelgoog, preparing to deliver a deadly punch. Mitsuo confidently responded by mirroring Yuta's actions, sending his gunpla into battle with one fist raised. With a lightning fast zoom, the Fang Gelgoog pounced from the surface of snow.

The two gunpla slammed fists together within seconds, with the Fang Gelgoog with a clear advantage in speed. The two fists collided at a groundbreaking force, easily creating a shockwave big enough to rumble the mountains that were behind them.

"Not yet!"

The Lee gundam rotated its waist, and attempted to sidekick the Fang Gelgoog. With the increased speed granted by the overclock system, Mitsuo leisurely ducked, with the leg of the golden gundam blazing right above the Gelgoog's head. Now at an advantageous position, Mitsuo extended the Gelgoog's arm and grabbed the torso with an unbreakable grip. Activating all the thrusters, with one single swing, the Lee gundam was thrown into the air by the Gelgoog.

Easily regaining control, Yuta activated the thrusters of the Lee gundam in short bursts, and within seconds the Golden fighter performed a 180 degree turn and was charging right back at the steaming hot Gelgoog.

Confidently raising his gunpla's only remaining arm, Mitsuo prepared his steaming Gelgoog for a pounce right at the Lee gundam that was heading straight for him. However, Yuta smiled as he realized that he was going at a speed too fast for the Gelgoog to counter effectively.

"You're going to have to do better than that, Mitsuo!"

"You underestimate me, Yuta!"

Rotating his last, armored arm, with the help of the overclock system's enhanced speed, the fist of the Lee gundam was once again able to meet squarely with the fist of the Fang Gelgoog. The two gunpla's hands smashed into each other once more, creating yet another devastating shockwave that shook the mountains of the field.

Yuta smiled as he realized his striking advantage over Mitsuo - he wasn't missing an arm. Reaching out from the left, the Lee gundam grabbed the dangling shoulder of the Fang Gelgoog and tightened his grip on the red, steaming armor.

"I'll be taking this!"

Taijin chuckled as he silently watched the golden fingers of the Lee gundam melt away upon holding onto the surface of the Fang Gelgoog. Instantly surprised at the unexpected damage to his gunpla, Yuta commanded the Lee gundam to back off in the form of a backflip, releasing his grip from the Fang Gelgoog's shoulder.

"What…just happened?"

Yuta watched as his gunpla's left hand begin to melt away, dripping gray liquid plastic over the snowy battlefield. Taijin politely explained to Mitsuo, who was standing in shock at the miracle that saved his life.

"The overclock system basically forces the gunpla to produce energy at a rate much faster than it can be replenished. Besides the obvious increase in power, speed and other things, the surface of the gunpla is superheated. If anything, including gunpla parts, touches the surface of the gunpla for too long, they're going to need some spare parts."

"I see…In that case, we don't have to worry about his melee prowess?"

"That's not true in the slightest. The overclock system has several drawbacks, one of which is that the surface of the gunpla becomes extremely brittle. If he hits us hard enough, sure, his fist will melt. But without a doubt we'd be blown into pieces."

Mitsuo closely observed the lee gundam's surroundings. He smiled as he noticed a familiar sign, a single yellow naginata was impaled in the snow directly in front of him.

"Taijin. If the armor becomes brittle, I need you to turn off the overclock system for now."

Without questioning Mitsuo's intentions, Taijin quickly disabled the Overlcock system on the gunpla. The steam that rose from within the gunpla's body quickly subsided, and the shine that coated the entire Gelgoog's armor faded away.

Mitsuo noticed that he was in very familiar territory. The beam naginata that was jammed in the snow - without a doubt, this was where the battle started. When he sent out all of his fangs at once, they were disrupted and they landed right here. He reached for the beam naginata right in front of him, and pulled it out of the snow with a swift "whoosh". The hilt of the blade was completely jammed with snow, causing the beam blade to fail. Mitsuo mumbled

"Perfect."

The Lee Gundam, still in its glowing gold form, stood confidently in front of the fang Gelgoog. The two gunpla froze as the blizzard continued to rage onwards. Occasionally, pellets of snow would hit the side of one of the gunpla, only to ricochet off of it's hard armor. Yuta extended his arm as he opened voice communications with Mitsuo, as well as for everybody else in the stadium to hear.

"Can I ask you one thing?"

Mitsuo immediately responded, and opened up his voice communications as well.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Why are you so insistent on going into close combat against me? Why are you playing to my strengths and not my weaknesses?"

A long silence ensued, with the audiences leaning out of their seats, eager to hear Mitsuo's response. Instead, what they got was a soft giggle. Mitsuo continued his giggling for a few seconds, before another short silence begun.

"What are you talking about? I wasn't playing to your strengths at all…"

Confused, Yuta raised an eyebrow at Mitsuo's questionable statement. His Fang Gelgoog had been fighting using close combat the entire time – which was undoubtedly the strong point of the Lee gundam.

"In fact, not only have I been playing to your gunpla's weakness…I've been playing to your mental weakness as well..."

Yuta laughed, as his gunpla extended his arm, positioning himself for a final blow.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm going to e-"

"NOW!"

Instantly, Mitsuo flicked his wrist, and opened up a special weapon only identified as SP-02.

"This is exactly what I mean, Yuta Kitano."

The snow underneath the Lee gundam suddenly erupted violently – as if it were standing above an active volcano. And from within the tower of snow that was thrust up, six small red fangs fell out of the sky. The same six that Mitsuo baited out at the start of the match.

Thrust into the air helplessly, the Lee gundam was completely blinded as layers of snow were thrown right at its face. From afar, it were as if a geyser just exploded directly underneath the Lee gundam. Flying upwards with it's back to the ground, the golden fighter was thrust up into the air, completely defenseless. With all of the Lee gundam's systems temporarily jammed, Yuta grunted

"Dammit…what the hell"

As the eruption of snow subsided, the Lee gundam turned around and watched the snowflakes fall down onto the mountain surface. Yuta scanned the area, looking for a red Gelgoog to strike, but to no avail. But the Lee gundam did notice something abnormal, a massive shadow that seemed to come from behind the Lee gundam that engulfed the land in darkness. Rotating around hastily, the Lee gundam was greeted with a fist from the Gauntlet Fang Gelgoog. Mitsuo smiled gleefully as he realized that the Lee gundam had no time to react to his punch.

"Take this!"

Decisively putting all of the booster's energy into its left fist, the Fang Gelgoog smashed its hand right into the Lee Gundam's chest, breaking a hole through the green gundam. A massive shockwave was produced from the punch, parting the clouds of plavsky particles and breaking the raging blizzard.

Yuta giggled as he released his grip from the yellow orb controller in front of him.

"Well done, Mitsuo Kimura. I never expected you to bait out my disruption so early to cancel out your fangs. And the naginata was to mark the position too. I never saw this inner genius in you, Mitsuo."

With a small explosion, the chest of the Lee gundam broke apart into several smaller pieces, with the limbs helplessly falling down from the sky. Amidst the smoke from the explosion, the red Gelgoog stood with its fist extended. A few cracks on its fingers formed, but nevertheless the zeon mobile suit stood victorious over the debris of the green fighter gundam.

"Battle ended"

* * *

**Author's Note**

Wow, I have never written such a long battle scene before. I don't consider myself to be good at writing battle scenes, but i gave it my best effort and I hope you guys enjoyed it!

Many thanks to the anonymous "guest" who submitted the OC for Yuta Kitano in the reviews section. You've made an awesome character, man!

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!


	14. The Tango

**Chapter 13 = The Tango**

20 minutes after Mitsuo's fight, Cindy walked into the stadium, completely late and missing the entire battle of Mitsuo and Yuta. There was another battle going on at the time, with the crowd eagerly watching a shining red gouf battle against the rarely seen masurao. She sighed as she glanced at her watch.

"Shit…"

Frantically searching around for a seat, Cindy desperately bolted to the row of seats in the stadium. She found an empty seat and scooched around to claim it. Sitting down, she sighed as she realized that she had missed one of the battles of her new favorite school team. She didn't even know who won or lost. Demanding answers, Cindy gently tapped the person to her left and smiled.

"Excuse me, could you tell me about the recent match of Team Carbon? I just arrived and unfortunately I missed it."

Responding to Cindy's tap, the person turned around and smiled back at Cindy. Cindy noticed her suspicious concealing cloak, as well has her eye patch on her left eye. She spoke in a posh, formal voice which closely reflected Cindy's ojou-sama manner of talking.

"My,my. It was an interesting match. Where to begin…"

Cindy observed her closely as the girl rubbed her chin and explained the match.

"It was a solid victory for Team Carbon. Mitsuo triumphed over Yuta."

Cindy widened her eyes in surprise

"Yuta? Team Sober Dance? So early in the tournament?"

"Yes…and their next battle is against team Quiver. Two top tier teams in a row."

A long sigh came from Cindy, with her hand gently placed on her face.

"What misfortune…"

The cloaked girl smiled at the distressed princess, brushing off some hair that was caught in her eye patch.

"It doesn't end there, though. If they make it through quiver, they've got Hollow Turtle to deal with. And if they survive through that, the defending champions, Enflamed Quintent, will probably be their final opponent"

"Wait, hold on for a second. Mitsuo fought against Yuta? One of the 3 people tied for second in the entire school? How did he…"

"The truth is, Mitsuo is actually pretty smart and strategic. I doubt a lot of people realize what he did, so allow me to explain. Mitsuo started the battle by baiting out Yuta's disruption system by sending out his explosive fangs. So the disruption system destroyed the thrust on the fangs, and they just collapsed right in front of the Lee gundam. Of course later in the game, because it was a snowy mountain biome, the fangs were buried in the snow. But that was exactly the point – Mitsuo set a trap. The fangs acted as invisible mines that were hidden by the snow."

Scratching her chin, Cindy raised an eyebrow

"But if it's buried in the snow, how did Mitsuo remember where the fangs were?"

"At the start of the match, Mitsuo threw one of his beam naginatas before he sent out his fangs. The naginata acted as a marker."

"So how did he get Yuta back there at the exact same place?"

"Yuta's mentality is pretty straight forward. Focus on the here and now, and not what happened before. I guess that Mitsuo placed that trap knowing that Yuta would be too focused on other things to even consider the possibility of a trap"

"I see…

Cindy stopped the conversation for a short while, and took some time to pay close attention to the mysterious girl. The more she talked with her, the more uneasy she felt. Crossing her arms, Cindy looked at the cloaked girl suspiciously. Her massive concealing cloak. Her eye patch. Something was off about this girl – and something about her alarmed Cindy.

The girl brushed her black hair to the side from under the cloak's hood and glanced at the battle occurring in the middle of the stadium, with the machine declaring the end of the battle.

"Battle ended"

A short, red haired boy reached out and took out his red Masurao from the stadium, triumphantly punching his fist into the air. Cindy glanced at the tournament brackets, and smiled as she noticed the teams participating in the next battle.

"Team Carbon versus Team Quiver, huh?"

* * *

Mitsuo burst into team carbon's lobby with a massive, cheerful smile on his face. The team members greeted him by standing up and giving him an enthusiastic round of applause.

"You guys! I did it!"

Mina energetically bolted out of her chair with a large pounce. She dashed towards Mitsuo and hugged him tightly, screaming in his ear

"YESS YOU DID"

Taijin strolled into the room, slightly behind Mitsuo. He flashed a smile at his teammates.

"Yo."

Mina quickly transitioned from Mitsuo to Taijin, and pounced on him energetically as well. She was jumping up and down like an energetic madwoman.

"Good job! That new booster really made all the difference!"

Taijin sighed as he gently pushed Mina away from him.

"Thanks, but we can't let our guard down just yet."

Grind nodded and glanced at the LCD screens placed in the lobby.

"Yeah. This match now is against Quiver. Raul's team."

Mitsuo adjusted his glasses and flashed another smile to his teammates.

"Why are you all so worried? I just fought against Yuta! As if we'd be so unlucky to fight Raul himself."

Kosetsu just tilted her head gently to the side. Nobody could really tell if she was following the conversation or not, but the soft, subtle smile on her face indicated that she was happy with everybody. Taijin glanced at her, and just as he opened his mouth to speak, he was interrupted by the MC's voice coming from the lobby's speakers.

"And that concludes the first round of the finals! Please, give a round of applause for all of the passing teams!"

The team members could hear applause coming from the main stadium from within the lobby. Amongst the clapping there were also loud whistles and hooting. The crowd was hungry for more.

"Well without any further ado, the second round! First of all! We have the newcomer team, that came out nowhere and wiped out everybody! Team Carbon!"

The applause resurfaced, this time louder than before. The MC patiently waited for the applause to fade before resuming the team announcements.

"They will be fighting against a team known for their brilliance, elegance and unshakable confidence! Team Quiver!'

For a third time, the crowd cheered and hooted wildly. It seemed like they just would not run out of energy.

"Now, for the deciding factor! Who will be competing in this battle to the death? Now let's see…"

A short pause.

"Grind Coleslaw! The second fighter of Team Carbon!"

Grind smashed his bulky fists together energetically. He let out a battle roar, and began to stretch his arms.

"Alright then! Time to show what I'm made of!"

Mitsuo adjusted his tilted glasses, still foggy from the battle earlier.

"So we've got a 1 in 4 chance of getting Raul. I'm pretty sure we got unlucky when we got drawn with Yuta. I'm pretty sure it wo-"

"Raul Machado! The second fighter of Team Quiver! Can you both enter the stadium in 10 minutes, please?"

The room fell dead silent. Raul abruptly stopped his stretching and sighed miserably. Taijin placed his palm on his face. Mitsuo took off his glasses and wiped his eyes with his arm. Mina's energy died out and she just sat down on the couch. Kosetsu…Kosetsu just stood there with here azure eyes staring into space, leaning on a wall. Grind coughed, and turned to the exit of the lobby.

"What misfortune…"

Mitsuo crossed his arms and gave Grind a serious glare, with his eyes seemingly glowing ethereally under the surface of his glasses.

"What would you say are the chances of you winning this battle?"

Grind scratched his chin, and after a short pause, he responded

"I've fought him a total of 4 times over the past month. And he won all four battles. So just from that, I don't think it'll be easy."

Taijin leaned over and placed his hand on Grind's shoulder. He smiled at him reassuringly.

"Well, I don't think there's much point in brooding over it. Plus, you've got me now."

Grind smiled back at Taijin, remembering his boosters. Ah yes, the boosters. Who would have predicted that Mitsuo would have triumphed over Yuta on his own? The gauntlet booster was an unbelievable help- and I'm sure there are more boosters to send out as well.

Taijin turned around and began to head towards the door. He turned around and gave everybody one last look of confidence before leaving the room. After the door shut closed, Mitsuo sighed

"Poor Taijin. An operator's got it tough, huh? Attending all of the battles and such…"

Kosetsu interjected with her soft, gentle, synthetic voice. She brushed her silky cream hair as she stated

"Cindy and I trained him. He knows what he's doing."

Grind bowed to the team, and then proceeded to walk towards the exit of the room.

"Well. I'm off."

* * *

The crowd roared insanely as the players stood confidently in front of the central massive battle machine. The entire room was dim, with only the faint blue light of the particle generator shining. As the quiet, rhythmic startup sound of the battle machine began, the applause began to die out, leaving only the mechanical noises of the battle machine. Light, tiny particles of azure began to rise up from the flat, metallic surface of the battle machine

"Please set your GP base"

All at once, the pilots pulled out their gunpla id devices and plugged them into their respective slots. With a satisfying click, the empty screens of the gp bases lit up, displaying the name of the pilot as well as their gunpla.

"Field 2 – City"

The blue particles began to condense, and with another high pitched, soft mechanical noise, a replica of a massive city was produced within seconds – complete with dozens of skyscrapers.

"Please set your gunpla"

Grind grinned confidently as he reached for his pouch and pulled out his Void striker gundam. At first glance, not much about the void strike's appearance seemed any different. It's armor was a pearl black with gunmetal joints. The backpack, which was a hybrid between the strike noir's and the strike IWSP's remained unchanged – with two massive anti ships swords complimented by massive long range potential. Everybody was confused as to why the gunpla seemed to be lacking upgrades – everybody but Grind himself.

As all of this was happening, Taijin carefully stared through the walls of plavsky particles in order to try and identify the gunpla that Raul was going to use. Taijin thought to himself

"It has to be a GM. No way around it. It's going to be a GM. But the question is, is the booster that I've built enough? So far, from what I've seen the GM Aqua is a very missile heavy weapon, so I've tried counter that with my booster…"

Raul carefully reached his hand into his black gunpla holder, and gently pulled out an entirely black GM model. It had a blue visor on its head, and it was heavily armored with pieces similar to that of the unicorn gundam. It carried a spiked shield as well as a massive Gatling gun, but most prominently, on itss back was six fin funnels taken from the nu gundam. It was completely different to the GM Aqua; it was a model that was rarely used by Raul. Yet it was recognized throughout the entire school. Whispers could be heard throughout the stadium as the LCD screens zoomed in onto Raul's gunpla.

"Hey…is that what I think it is? That fin funneled GM…"

"Oh god, It's Raul's GM Striker!"

"Team carbon, sorry you…"

Grind instantly recognized the machine that was placed against him, and he gulped nervously. He closed his eyes, and a smile began to grow on his face.

"So he's sending that out, huh"

He began to laugh nervously, almost half-heartedly. Taijin leaned over and placed his hand on Grind's shoulder

"Don't worry. We'll do this together."

Even the blonde haired princess in the stands took a moment to acknowledge the incredibly dire situation that team carbon was in. She sighed, and gently placed her soft palm on her forehead.

"To get paired up with Raul is already unlucky, but to go up against Raul and that GM..."

The eyepatched girl tilted her head and smiled sinisterly, yet subtlely.

"I think that this is a test of skill if you ask me. The gods of gunpla battle are testing this team."

Cindy sighed again and nodded at the mysterious girl's statement.

"The gods of gunpla battle, huh? You think that's the case?"

"Yes. I don't think so. I know so."

Before Cindy could respond to the girl's statement, the launching catapults were prepared and primed, with a high pitched beep from the machine signaling the start of the battle.

"Battle start"

"Raul Machado. E.N.T.D GM Striker Custom. Going all out."

"Grind Coleslaw. Void Striker Gundam. Heading out!"

* * *

The artificial sun shined brightly over the city of plavsky particles. Gray and silver skyscrapers neatly lined the horizon, with massive towers scattered all over the city. Sattelite dishes and water tanks were present throughout the field, making it obvious that this field was of a city's business center. Massive, crowded and compact. Sharp, thruster sounds filled the areas as the Gunpla maneuvered to their positions.

The Void Striker landed on one of the highest buildings on the field on one knee. Raul responded confidently, and sent out his GM striker to stand on one of the skyscrapers as well, directly opposite Grind.

Grind wasted no time, and instantly reached for one of his anti-ship swords. He decisively whipped it out and charged straight at the GM Striker, which was standing completely still. Grind's charge was interrupted when Taijin heard beeps coming from his operator panel.

"Behind you!"

A thin, orange beam came from behind one of the skyscrapers, headed straight for the black strike gundam. Grind rotated, and cut the beam in half with a swing of his sword. Looking at the place where the beam was fired, a single, familiar mechanical object could be seen rushing back behind cover.

"That's…the nu gundam's fin funnels"

Another beep. From the sky, two more beams rushed down at Grind's void striker. Grabbing his other anti ship sword, the Void striker spun around like a mini tornado, and the beams were dispelled. Grind smiled as he noticed that the GM striker has yet to move from its original position

"This isn't going to be easy, eh?"

More fin funnels revealed themselves from behind their cover of buildings and clouds. Doing a mental count, Taijin noticed that there was a total of 6 fin funnels that were used by the GM. All at once, they began to open fire on the void striker in a rhythmic yet random pattern. With nothing to defend himself with, Grind desperately dashed around the field, taking cover behind buildings. The beams that were shot by the fin funnels crashed right into the walls of massive buidlings, breaking glass and concrete.

Taijin hasitly reached for his briefcase, and pulled out yet another booster. It had features that differentiated it from both the gauntlet and the flight booster, yet they had distinct similarities. It was almost entirely silver, with massive, rectangular wings which resembled that of the Double X's solar panels.

"This is going to make it easier!"

He placed down the new booster on it's launching pad, and smiled confidently has he braced the yellow orbs in front of him.

"Taijin Sakamoto! Shield Booster! I'm off!"

The silver model shot out into the sky, briefly reflecting the light of the sun with its metallic shine. Heading behind cover, the booster attempted to maneuver around the battle in order to dock with Grind. Noticing the booster's abrupt appearance, Raul grinned.

"I won't let you do that!"

The fin funnels quickly halted fire, and zoomed around the battlefield. Within seconds, they surrounded Taijin's shield booster. Raul opened up a tab on his golden orb.

"It's a shame that I won't be able to see this booster in action when it's in pieces, Taijin!"

All six fin funnels shot out their beam at the shield booster at once with deadly accuracy. Right before they hit the booster, Taijin opened up a setting on his controller as well.

"Don't speak too soon!"

The wings of the shield booster suddenly opened up, revealing a butterfly-like design that was hidden under the rectangular wings. The inside of the wings were much more metallic than the rest, as if they were made of real, freshly made titanium. The beams hit the inner metallic wings, but with a high pitched "ping" sound, the beams were perfectly reflected right back at the funnels. Raul grunted, and tried his best to micro-manage away the little funnels. 2 of them were shot down by their own attack, while 4 of them narrowly escaped death. Continuing to zoom around, the shield booster's wings closed back, returning it's rectangular shape. The GM striker took a step forward from it's building roof, and prepared to leap out to eliminate the flight booster itself. Suddenly, the GM performed an abrupt duck. The white blade of the Void Striker gundam barely scratched the top of the GM striker's head, and after realising that he missed, Grind back flipped out, holding his IWSP blade confidently.

"I'm right here, buddy."

Tuning around instantly, the GM Striker began to unleash a wave of bullets from its gatling gun mounted on its arm. The Void Striker backed off with its thrusters, heading around the building to avoid fire from the gatling gun. Despite the Void striker heading out of range, Raul did not halt his fire. Occasionally, a few bullet would hit the surface of the Void Striker Gundam, but the tiny pellets would simply leave a small dent in its thick armor.

"His armor is too thick. Similar to the powered GM. I approve, Grind!"

Noticing it's futile effectiveness, Raul tossed aside the Gatling gun, throwing it off the building. It hit the ground with a loud thud, signaling Grind to send back the Void Striker towards the GM Striker. The black strike gundam landed on the building, holding it's anti ship sword assuredly. Grind pointed the blade at Raul's black GM Striker

"Let's dance for a bit, Raul!"

The GM Striker pulled out a large, gray mechanical rod. It had the appearance of the grip of a scythe, yet it lacked the blade. Raul confidently responded.

"I may not be Yuta by any standards…but choosing to engage against me in close combat…"

The black mechanical rod suddenly released two beam blades on it's ends, revealing a deadly and intimidating twin beam spear. The GM Striker grabbed it by both hands and begun to spin it around like a martial artist, with the beam blades occasionally piercing through the ground.

"It's a mistake."

Grind responded to Raul's confidence by pulling out his second sword from the booster. He dual wielded the two massive swords with ease, and showed it off by doing a few combos right in front of the GM Striker.

"We'll see about that."

Raul glanced at the Void Striker, and thought to himself carefully, mentally devising its weaknesses.

"It may be strong, but at the end of the day it's based off the Strike gundam. There's no way that it can be flexible enough to evade the spear's attack. Even if it's Grind who's controlling it, a stiff gunpla like that will never be able to dodge. Hmph! He should have chosen the GM Thunderbolt!"

The GM Striker suddenly leaped forward like a wild animal right at the Void Striker. He swung his beam spear, aiming to cut off the void striker from the waist under. With the GM clearly preparing to do a massive swipe, Grind grunted as he raised one of his swords in an attempt to block the attack. Suddenly, the GM Striker turned the other way, faking the attack from earlier. The spear was now being swung the other way, heading right for the other side of the Void Striker. Raul thought to himself as it began to swipe through the wind smoothly.

"There's no way a frame as outdated as the strike's can dodge this! You're done!"

Unexpectedly, the void striker leaned back elegantly, as if on an insane game of limbo. Performing a perfect bridge, the spear of the GM striker simply sliced the air right above the Void striker. In complete shock, Raul pulled back and retreated to a safe distance as Grind regained his balance, already prepared to counterattack.

"No way…how did the Void Striker-"

Before Raul could continue his thinking process, the strike gundam dashed at the GM, with one sword raised in the air, ready to strike. Parrying it with ease, the thick plastic of the anti ship sword crashed right into the dense beam saber of the GM's spear. Using his other sword, Grind elegantly spun around and swung his remaining arm right at the body of the GM. Suddenly performing a rapid rotation, the GM kicked away the void striker before the blade could make contact with the body of the GM. Raul carefully observed the void striker from his display

"How on earth is that gunpla so flexible?"

Shaking his head, Raul brushed aside the question for the time being. Grabbing the beam spear with both hands, the GM Striker spun it around, leaving thin trails of red beam particles. Raul sighed, and he tightened his grip on his plavsky particle generated controller.

"How will you deal with this, then?"

The GM suddenly blazed right at the Void Striker, and within a matter of a second, the GM was ducking right under the Void Striker. Grind gasped as he desperately tried to backstep out to a safe distance, but there was no time. Unexpectedly, the GM swung around, and used its spiked shield to crush right into the torso of the strike gundam. The shield crashed into the the surface armor of the Void Striker's chest, and a loud, building-shattering cracking sound was produced. A shockwave was produced from the impact, so large that the skyscraper that the gunpla was battling on simply failed to hold up, and collapsed under the force of the punch. Yet, the torso of the strike gundam still remained form and solid, with only a single, tiny crack forming on its left hip. A thin piece of armor fell from the gunpla's surface, revealing a layer of gray and silver mechanics underneath. Raul smiled as he realized why the Void Striker was so ridiculously flexible.

"That frame under the armor…it's…custom."

Dashing away to the safety of another building, Grind carefully retreated back a safe distance. He quickly assessed the damage dealt to his Void Striker

"Minor frame damage, missing armor on the hip area. One IWSP sword dropped. This custom frame is really paying off!"

Raul activated his gunpla's thrusters, and floated gently in the sky above the void striker. His shield was cracked from the damage as well, possibly even more so than the armor of the void striker was.

"Very good, Grind!"

With its remaining anti ship sword, the Void striker confidently drew an offensive stance, ready to pounce right at the black GM. The Gm mirrored the Void striker's stance with its twin beam spear. The two gunpla remained in those poses for a few seconds, before in an instant, they bolted straight towards each other.

They blazed around the city sky, around buildings and into the clouds. Leaving trails of black, the two gunpla clashed blades in the boundless sky. With acrobatic stunts and impressive swordplay, the two black gunpla fought elegantly and rapidly, like ethereal shadows that clashed against each other relentlessly. Each time their blades clashed, a high pitch "ching" would chime, before it was engulfled by the sound of the gunpla's thrusters. Decorating the skies with trails of jet black, neither pilot showed any sign of letting down.

* * *

The spectators gasped as they watched the fighters clash in the city. Chatter began to emerge from the audience

"Whoah, Grind is really holding up well against Raul!"

"Especially considering that Raul's using his Gm Striker.."

Yuta, who finished his battle earlier, was eagerly watching the battle from the second floor's spectator area. He had a towel around his neck, and was carrying a half-empty water bottle. He glanced down below with his hazy green eyes.

"What an interesting fight…the two gunpla are basically equally matched."

He took a large sip out of his water bottle, and let out a loud drink reflex. He turned to his left, and smiled at a certain short girl that was watching the battle with him.

"Ahh...Wouldn't you agree, Yuu?"

Yuu glanced at Yuta; her cold red eyes staring into the depths of his soul.

"I suppose."

Yuta sighed and laughed sarcastically, trying to lighten up the atmosphere

"Come on, Yuu! One of these teams is probably going to be your opponent in the next round!"

Yuu brushed her long, silver hair. She smiled maliciously as she watched the two black shadows clash in the battlefield.

"I'm not going to deny it. Raul hasn't shown his true strength yet. But Grind seems to be holding back something as well."

She turned around, now facing away from the battlefield. She began to walk away from the spectator area, into the dark corridor that led to the stairs. Her ruby eyes shined in the darkness as she began to head towards her lobby.

"But such a mundane fight. I couldn't care less what the outcome is."

Yuta sighed again as she watched Yuu disappear as she walked down the steps.

* * *

On the other side of the city battlefield, the fight between booster and fin funnel still continued, with Taijin carefully maneuvering under the raging battle between the two gunpla above. Only two fin funnels remained, the other four were destroyed by their own beams as Taijin strategically opened up the shield booster's reflectors after each fired shot. Seeing as how it was now safe to do so , Taijin called out to Grind

"Grind, docking!"

Heading down from above the clouds, the Void Striker descended from the skies. The blades of the IWSP swords were severely chipped and damaged, barely usable. Their metallic shine had dulled in the midst of battle. Grind turned his gunpla around, with its back facing the shield booster.

"Void pack, purging!"

The backpack of the void striker abruptly separated smoothly from the Void Striker, relasing the two beam cannons that were on the void pack. The shield booster lined up with the slot that the void pack once filled, and approached it slowly and steadily. The booster and the gundam interlocked with a satisfying clicking sound. The rectangular panels that held the reflective shield on the back rotated forward and opened up, revealing the wings of the shield booster, now on the gunpla.

"Synchronization complete. All systems green. Grind, we're done!"

Descending slowly from the clouds, the black GM striker landed on a wrecked building just below the new shield void striker. Its halberd was scratched and whittled, and the red beam blade was vibrating folded his arms and watched the Void striker show off its new silver wings.

"Very nice. Very nice indeed."

The two remaining fin funnels retreated back to the GM, docking neatly on its back. Noticing that he was in a familiar setting, Raul whispered to himself

"This building, yes. I've been here before. Meaning..!"

The GM striker abrubtly disabled its beam spear and performed a dive towards some debris on the building. Emerging from the debris, Raul pulled out his gatling gun, and aimed it at the gunpla that was standing in the sky above him. Firing a massive wave of bullets at full burst, the gatling gun unleashed a formidable surge of ammunition at an incredible speed. Bullets flew out of the gatling gun, several each second. Grind noticed the bullets, and called out panickingly to Taijin

"Taijin! I don't think I can tank this many!"

Opening up an ability on his controller, Taijin responded reassuringly

"Don't worry about it!"

Clicking the ability, a large blue sphere of energy materialized around the body of the Void Striker. Greeting the wave of bullets eagerly, the void striker stood still and let them head straight towards the forcefield. The bullets banged into the force field violently, but never penetrated though. The Gatling gun clicked repeatedly as it was out of ammunition. Raul glanced into the sky, and noticed the blue, clear bubble that protected the Void striker.

"That ability…the same one used against Yuta. Yes, I do remember"

The Gm Striker tossed aside the Gatling gun again, and reached into its side skirts. Pulling out two beam pistols that were from the Cheridum Gundam, Raul took aim.

"But let's see how it will handle this!"

Taijin noticed the beam pistols, and hastily fidgeted around with his plavsky particle controller. Knowing that the bubble wouldn't be able to last against the beam pistols, Taijin pulled out his secret weapon.

"Shield bits, launch!"

The wings of the void striker separated, with each individual wing piece headed a different direction, similar to a fin funnel. Two condensed beams were shot out from the beam pistols, only to be deflected by the reflective panel of the shield and sent right back. Hitting the beam pistols with a zap, the shots were returned perfectly and the beam pistols exploded in the hands of the GM Striker, pulling back, Raul smiled as he watched the shield bits fly around in the air, rotating around the Void Striker.

"Very nice. But remember this closely…"

Raul shifted his controller, opening up a special option. It was an option that he was always hesitant to use, but without any options left, he wansn't in a position to complain. He hovered above the option, and after a few seconds of hesitation, he clicked the option.

"I am Raul Machado…"

Suddenly, the armor pieces of the gm striker began to separate, mechanically rotating and relocating. From under where the armor was, lines of ruby began to form, creating an intimidating black and red figure similar to the unicorn gundam.

"…and before me…"

The blue visor of the GM striker suddenly dulled, and a new, darker red color replaced the soothing blue that was once there.

"…you are nothing!"

Grind folded his arms and sighed he glanced at the new form of the GM Striker, ready to fight against him.

"That mode…the E.N.T.D…."

Taijin noticed a bleeping sound coming from the operator panel, and he quickly yelled out to Grind

"Watch out!"

Wielding its beam spear, the GM striker blazed right at the Void Striker at breakneck speeds. Raul swung his spear upwards, but quick micro management from Taijin sent one of the shield bits to block the halberd attack. The shiny, metallic face of the shield bit was unharmed from the contact with the beam, yet violent sparks of red burst out when the two made contact. The void striker used its thrusters to back off, maneuvering around a skyscraper to catch its breath.

"That speed…it's almost as if it were in trans-am…."

Taijin responded to Raul's new form by opening up a slot on his option. He clicked on it, and a familiar hissing sound emerged from within the shield booster.

"Overclock system, activating!"

White steam began to rise from the black surface of the void striker, coating the black gundam with a thin layer of white smoke. Grind smiled as he realized the reason as to why Taijin activated the overclock system.

"Fight speed with speed, huh?"

Unexpectedly, the building which the Void Striker was taking cover under suddenly exploded, throwing off the balance of the overclocked void striker. Small rocks occasionally fell onto the void striker from within the smoke of the explosion, but they melted under the intense heat of the Void striker's surface armor. Turing around, Grind was greeted with a fearsome silhouette with visor and armor of red that shone from under the smoke. Raul called out to grind, and confidently tightened his grip on the plavsky particle controller.

"Sorry, this form doesn't last very long. I'm going to finish this."

A wave of particles rushed out from within the body of the GM Striker, brushing away the smoke cloud that separated the two gunpla. It glazed past the void striker gundam , seemingly having no effect. Grind tightened his grip on his battle damaged anti-ship swords, preparing for a strike right at the GM Striker. Taijin observed the new form of the GM Striker closely, now that he had a much closer look.

"That form…undoubtedly it's similar to the gundam unicorn. If that's the case, it shouldn't last more than about two minutes, which is shorter than the overclock. If we can outlast the GM for those five minutes, we can counterattack."

Grind caught hold of Taijin's words, and extended the void striker's arm, pointing its IWSP blade at Raul's black and red GM.

"So our goal is to survive for the next five minutes, huh?"

_-Two minutes remaining-_

The shield bits that rotated around the Void Striker began to rotate around more rapidly, creating an illusion of a massive metal ring that surrounded the void striker. Raul smiled, as he opened up yet another option on his plavsky particle controller.

"Take-over."

Suddenly, the bits halted its rotation around the body of the Void striker, and smashed into its arms. The reflective surface was scratched and damaged due to the impact, and a crack formed on the arm of the Void striker. Grind called out frustratingly as to what was going on

"Taijin! Your bits!"

"It's not me!"

Grind gasp as he remembered the wave of particles that passed the void striker earlier.

"Raul…its Raul's take-over system!"

Taijin decisively responded to Grind's frustration

"Just break the bits! I can always build new ones!"

Using the flat edge of the anti-ship sword, grind frustratingly smashed the blade into the shield bits that were trying to piece through the armor. Breaking into several smaller pieces, the reflective debris rained down on the wrecked city below. Using one of its arms, the Void striker reached out, and grabbed a tiny part of the broken, shiny panel. Noticing a glaring opening, Raul dashed forward, with the left fist of his GM raised into the air. The fist of the GM smashed violently into the steam-coated armor of the void striker, sending the mobile suit flying back, crashing through several buildings on its path. Raul glanced at his gunpla's left fist, which was beginning to melt from the contact with the overclocked burning hot surface of the Void striker.

_-One minute remaining-_

With its newly gained incredible speed, the GM Striker dashed around the stadium to find the void striker. Hiding underneath a large bridge, Raul panted nervously as he fearfully hid from Raul. The chest of the void striker was violently torn open, with the mechanic frame and the electrical circuits protruding from the gunpla's inner body. Suddenly, gunfire filled the arena as the Gm Striker rained down a hail of bullets on the bridge from its head Vulcans. The bridge abruptly collapsed, raising a cloud of black smoke from where the Void striker was hiding. Raul taunted

"You think you can hide a gunpla with steam rising from its body?!"

-Thirty seconds remaining-

Raul watched confidently as the debris of the bridge began to settle down under the water surface, and the smoke cloud subsided. There was no movement from under the bridge, and the parts of the bridge simply drowned slowly, fading under the surface of the water. However, Raul knew that Grind was still awake, as the battle machine had yet to announce the end of the battle.

-Twenty seconds remaining-

A large burst of water came from behind the black GM Striker, with the void Striker emerging from the water, heading straight at the black and red GM. Holding a single, half-wrecked anti ship sword, the void striker desperately charged. Raul smiled as he noticed that the void striker was not in overclock mode.

Noticing the void striker's charge, the Gm Striker turned around, and simply backhanded the sword swing. Upon impact with the GM's body, the blade simply broke down, unable to withstand the power of the GM Striker's E.N.T.D.

_-Ten seconds remaining-_

With its other remaining arm, the GM Striker clenched its fist, and prepared for a devastating punch to the chest of the Void striker to end it all. Still floating above the city river, the void striker released its grip on the broken anti-ship sword. Raul watched the debris of the sword rain down as he thought to himself

"There's no way that he can dodge this attack without the overclock system."

_-Five seconds remaining-_

"I don't see any possible outcome in this scenario where he can avoid this punch. The overclock system won't activate fast enough, and tanking it means death."

_-Four seconds remaning-_

The body of the GM Striker rotated as Raul was ready to throw the punch.

_-Three seconds remaining-_

The fist began to accelerate, seemingly channeling the wind as the arm of the GM Striker came closer to the body of the void striker.

_-Two seconds remaining-_

Suddenly, a flash of light blinded Raul's screen, rendering him unable to properly execute his punch. He halted his attack, and he turned the head of his GM away from the void striker

"W…what?!"

The right arm of the void striker, which was holding a small part of the shiny panel, was extended to the GM Striker. Reflecting the light from the sun, Grind aimed the panel right at the face of the GM Striker, temporarily blinding it.

_-One second remaining-_

The armor of the GM striker began to rotate and relocate mechanically again, covering up the lines of red with the black armor pieces of the GM Striker. At the same time, the wild rotation of the overclock system could be heard activating from within the Void Striker's backpack. Grind confidently charged at the GM Striker, flinching after the blinding light.

_-Zero seconds remaining-_

"Overclock system, reactivating!"

With a lightning fast zoom, the Void Striker's fist penetrated right through the torso of the GM Striker, which had just finished transforming back into its normal state. With a satisfying crush sound, the Void striker tore through the body of Raul's GM striker with a single, costly blow. The void striker's arm was ripped off, sent falling down into the river, yet its body stood triumphantly over the falling remains of the black, Gm striker model.

"Battle ended"

* * *

**Author's note:**

These battles just keep on getting longer and longer! You guys really seemed to enjoy Yuta's fight against Mitsuo, so hopefully you'll all like this fight as well! I hope you enjoyed it!

I just want to send out a sincere thanks to Bronyhoodofsteel who made the character of Raul Machado. He truly did an amazing job with this OC. Thank you so much for your submission!

Have a nice day!


	15. The Waltz

**_Chapter 15 = The Waltz_**

A young, silver haired girl sat in her team's lobby alone, hearing the wild cheers from outside that commenced when the battle between Raul and Grind ended. The hood of her orange hoodie was cast over her silver hair. She sighed, and leaned back on her chair, staring at the white ceiling lights. She blinked her red eyes repeatedly. As the cheering began to die down, she heard the sound of the plavsky particles dematerializing, and the footsteps of the fighters walking out of the stadium. She tilted her head towards the LCD screen in the room and she saw Grind and Taijin walking away cheerily, the Void Striker in Grind's hands.

"So Raul lost, huh?"

She glanced down at the black gunpla holder mounted on her waist and sighed.

"Then again, I'm in the semifinals. The top five teams get credit from the school, so I might as well just forfeit now…"

Standing up from her chair, Yuu began to walk towards the lobby's exit. Before she left the room, she glanced back at the LCD one last time, and was greeted with a massive display of the tournament brackets. Two teams were highlighted yellow, signaling that they were the participating teams in the next battle. Hollow Turtle and Team Carbon.

"Well, I guess it's too late for that now…"

Opening her gunpla holder gently, she pulled out her destiny gundam. Unlike most of the other combatants, its appearance was nearly identical to what it was yesterday. Besides some repairs, it appeared to be the same destiny on the outside.

* * *

"S…sorry Taijin. I really didn't expect things to turn out that way…" Grind apologized

In the lobby of Team Carbon, everybody gathered around Taijin, who was holding the remains of the shield booster in his hands. The wings were completely shattered and broken after Raul took control of them, and only 1 reflective panel was still usable. The fragment that Grind used to blind the GM striker was still in the Void striker's hands. Grind bowed his head to Taijin.

"I'm sorry!"

Taijin sighed, and placed the remains of the booster on the desk in the lobby. It lay there in several pieces, clearly beyond any form of repair.

"It's alright, I didn't expect such a powerful gunpla like that either. We didn't have much of a choice."

Reaching inside his briefcase, Taijin brought out the Gauntlet booster that was used against Yuta. It was also in pieces, with one of the shield wings broken into indistinguishable shards of brown plastic. He put the remains of the two boosters besides each other, and then scratched his chin as a sly expression grew on his face.

"Maybe I can make something out of these parts…like some sort of Kitbash booster or something. It should only take a few moments"

Before the other team members could question Taijin any further, the MC's voice roared through the speakerphones located in the lobby

"And we are back! Now, moving straight onto the semifinals! Without any further ado, let's start the member selection phase between team Carbon and team Hollow Turtle!"

An intense silence filled the room as the members of Team Carbon waited peevishly for the selection of their combatant. They knew that in the condition they were in, if Grind or Mitsuo were to be picked, the battle fought would be a difficult one, regardless of the opponent.

"From team carbon! The team which came in like a wrecking ball and is sweeping the competition, please come on to the stage, Mina Takahashi!"

Mina punched her two fists together as she heard her name called. She punched her fists in the energetically and let out a high pitched cheer

"Yahooo! Time to rock the stage!"

The entire gloomy and depressing atmosphere was instantly lifted as Mina's smile lit up the room with enthusiasm. With little delay, the MC continued his announcing

"From team hollow turtle! The team which has made it so far in the tournament thanks to smart plays and tactics, please come on to the stage, Masato Yuu!"

Grind folded his arms and smiled at Mina. Sarcastically, he exclaimed to Mina

"Oh my. Another top ranking player? What ever shall we do?"

Mina turned around and winked at Taijin, who was carrying his briefcase of boosters in his hand. He winked back, and the two fighters left the room with confidence and zeal.

* * *

"Mina-chan's enthusiasm against Yuu-chan's solemnity. Which one do you think will triumph, Raul Machado?"

From the second floor of the spectator area, Yuta looked down on the stadium as the two gunpla fighters approached their positions. By his side was Raul Machado, closely observing the two as well. Raul scoffed, and let out a jolly laugh.

"Watch your words, Yuta! If Yuu catches you calling her that, she'll tear you down like a GM cannon's blasts would tear through a Zaku I's pathetic armor."

Yuta giggled at Raul's statement. He glanced at Mina from above, his emerald eyes shining with hope.

"I wonder if Yuu would be able to learn a thing or two from Mina's aura of positivity."

Raul let out another laugh; this one was clearly mocking Yuta's rhetorical question

"You're joking, right?"

"Ha. Maybe."

* * *

"Please set your GP base"

Taijin, Mina and the operator of Hollow Tortoise pulled out their gp bases, placing them onto the allotted slot with a satisfying click. The particles formed a hexagonal shape around the three participants, yet one was clearly inactive. Taijin called out to Yuu, who had not moved an inch since she reached the battle machine.

"Hey, Yuu? Are you here to enjoy the view or to play gunpla battle?"

Mina leaned over to Taijin, and whispered in a jovial tone

"I can't blame the girl. These particles are freaking beautiful!"

Like an enraged tsundere, Taijin raised his voice and shook his fist as he gave Mina an enraged glance

"Mina…That's not the point…."

Yuu glanced at her opponents on the opposite side of the stadium. Her long silver hair was revealed as she removed her concealing hood, as well as her ruby red eyes that seemed to glow maliciously. She called out to the competitors that stood before her.

"I'm going to make this very clear before I set my GP base."

The members of Team Carbon glared at Yuu with a serious look. With a stale, emotionless tone, Yuu declared

"I've got no interest in winning this battle."

Taijin clenched his fist and shook his head in disbelief.

"No way…But…why?"

"I've got what I wanted. The top 6 teams that make it into the final round all get credit. With this, I won't ever have to play gunpla battle in school again. You guys can just take the win. I'll send out my Destiny Gundam right into the middle of the battlefield. I won't put up any resistance. Just shoot me and get it over with"

Outraged, Taijin yelled

"So the whole time you were just playing gunpla battle just for the extra credit!?"

"Ironic, coming from you, Taijin Sakamoto. I've heard about your dangerously low grades in gunpla battle class. I know that this is something that you need."

"What about your teammates? Are you just going to selfishly pull the breaks on your team just because you don't want to keep fighting?"

"It's because of me that this team got this far in the first place. I have no problems stopping here."

"That's!-"

A familiar, feminine voice interrupted Yuu's and Taijin's conversation

"That's pretty low, Yuu-chan."

Yuu raised her eyebrow as she sensed a shift in Mina's personality. Looking at Mina now, her fists were shaking and she was gritting her teeth. Her cheerful, energetic self suddenly emitted an atmosphere of unshakable intensity. Yuu laughed at Mina's statement.

"Low? How so? This is the quickest and most efficient way to get what I want, and also what you want. It's a win win situation."

"If that's your reason for joining the tournament…"

Mina suddenly outstretched her hand, pointing at Yuu in an accusing manner.

"I'm going to make a bet with you. This way, you can play seriously."

Yuu laughed sarcastically.

"You really think I care about a bet? Win or lose, I'm still going to get the extra credit. Bring it, Mina."

With her hand still pointing at Yuu, Mina declared

"If I beat you, you're going to have to let me teach you the fun that comes from gunpla battle. The building, customizing and battling. The entire process from square one"

Not giving Mina any time to elaborate, Yuu responded

"And If I end up defeating you?"

Mina scratched her head for a few seconds, thinking of possible penalties that may interest Yuu. After a few seconds of thinking, Mina answered

"I'm going to build you a special gunpla."

"And what makes you think I have any interest in that?"

"Your straight build destiny is probably the result of you not caring enough about gunpla battle. So what if I made you an even stronger gunpla that would help in cleaning up the weak during gunpla battle class?"

Yuu, seeing Mina's conditions as satisfactory, smiled at Mina confidently

"It's on, Takahashi Mina."

Mina smiled. However, Taijin noticed it wasn't her usual joyful and carefree smile. It resembled the smile of a psychopath.

"Bring it, Yuu Masato."

* * *

Yuu took out her GP base and inserted it in its respective slot, causing the rectangular device to glow blue, revealing the identity of the gunpla, its builder and its pilot. As the last GP base clicked into position, the plavsky particles in the machine began to activate, elegantly rising from the surface of the massive machine.

"Field 7: Ruins"

The miniscule blue particles danced around the machine, changing its color from a bright illuminating blue into shades of gray, white and black. Towers rose from the machine's surface, with one particular skyscraper in the middle of the battlefield that overlooked the entire arena.

"Please set your gunpla"

Yuu placed her Destiny Gundam down on the launching platform. Completely scratch built and unmodified, several spectators shrugged at the sight of the gunpla. Its eyes illuminated with a green shine. Yuu glanced at the team opposite her, eager to see what kind of gunpla they plan to send against her. Mina smiled, and pulled out a familiar yet uniquely modified gunpla. Taijin's eyes widened at the sight of Mina's unusual gunpla

"That's….not the Searing Impulse!"

Although the main body of the gunpla was based off her searing impulse, there were several features that distinguished it from the gunpla she used yesterday. Its left hand was still that of the Z'gok, with three gunmetal claws protruding off the cylindrical arm shape. However, the right arm of Mina's impulse was that of the Arios; with the massive half-wing included. The majority of the gunpla's body was painted in pink, with silver highlights in the armor and joints.

"That's right Taijin. This isn't the Searing Impulse."

Mina pointed her arm up in the sky, and placed the unique gunpla down on the catapult.

"This is the Searing Impulse Mark II, Plan C!"

Taijin raised an eyebrow at Mina's odd naming. He went from being in awe of the amazing gunpla before him to being confused about the naming of that gunpla.

"Wait what? P…Plan C?"

"Yeah! Plan 'cut that little brat's gunpla into tiny plastic pieces that would qualify for modern art these days because artists are weird!', but the name "Plan C-T-L-B-G-I-T-P-P-T-W-Q-F-M-A-T-D-B-A-A-W" is a bit long, so I shortened it into Plan C"

Taijin laughed sincerely. Mina was a genius in academics, sports and gunpla, but easily her most defining trait is her ridiculous weird personality. Yuu was completely unfazed by the humorous interaction between the two members. She pulled over her hood and cracked her knuckles.

"Anyways, enough talk. Let's get ready to fight!"

A high pitched beep sounded from within the plavsky particle machine.

"Battle Start"

* * *

The plavsky city was dark. Gray clouds blackened the skies. Endless rain poured on the post-apocalyptic ruins of what seemed like a massive city center. The sound of the small raindrops hitting the broken concrete sung throughout the arena, as if welcoming the two fighters with a macabre song of rain. The destiny gundam landed on top of the single massive skyscraper that oversaw the entire battlefield, directly on its rooftop. It stood motionless and in plain sight. Yuu tightened her grip on the plavsky particle controllers and closed her eyes.

10 eventless seconds passed.

Yuu opened her eyes, sounding disappointed about the lack of action taken by Mina's searing impulse.

"Are you not going to shoot me down as I stand now? A wide open target?"

Another 10 seconds passed

"Or do you not have a ranged weapon equipped? You've had more than enough time to sneak up to me."

Yet another 10 seconds passed.

"I'm tired of waiting."

The large green cannon on the left side of the Destiny Gundam unfolded, and the gundam reached over to grab hold of the massive long-ranged weapon. Pointing it towards the west side of the battle arena, Yuu prepared to shoot.

From under one of the buildings, Mina quietly observed Yuu's movements and provocations. The Searing Impulse, despite its pink color, was blending in well with the shadows. Hiding under the blanket of darkness, Mina watched as Yuu pointed her cannon 45 degrees to her left. She remained silent and unfazed. She whispered to Taijin through the video communications

"Don't worry. In the show, that cannon has some pretty puny output compared to something like the Virtue's or Seraphim's cannons. There's no way it can do enough damage to shake us"

Suddenly, a colossal wave of red and white energy rushed past the left side of Mina's gunpla, leaving only a tiny gap between the beam and the gunpla itself. The beam was titanic, easily engulfing a large portion of the map in its devastating heat. Mina widened her eyes as she watched the entire west area of the city ruins turn into dust.

"W-what?!"

The beam died down and diffused into the air, leaving the steaming remains of a city block. Yuu, still on the central skyscraper area, was completely calm. She simply turned around to the north side of the city, and prepared to execute the same process again.

"If you're not in the west area, maybe you'd be hiding in the north?"

Mina smiled as she noticed an opening. She rushed around to the south, and charged upwards at Yuu, whose back was exposed wide open. Reaching out with its Z'gok claws, the Searing Impulse C prepared to impale the Destiny with its bare hands.

"I've got you!"

Yuu grinned as she watched the Searing Impulse approach from behind her. With a flick of her wrist, the Destiny Gundam's blue anti-ship sword unfolded from its right shoulder. Reaching over to grab the sword, Yuu was able to parry Mina's attack with a single, swift swing of her anti-ship sword.

"No, you misunderstand, Mina."

Reaching over with her other hand, Yuu brought up the green cannon right up to the face of the Searing Impulse, which was still recovering from the unexpected counter-attack.

"You're the one who fell for the trap!"

The sky was lit up with red and white as the cannon's massive energy beam tore through the gray skies. The Destiny Gundam, which was completely untouched throughout the course of the battle, relaxed its joints as it watched the clouds reform. Yuu sighed as she realized that Mina had gotten away from her.

"What a shame…all of that talk and now you're just running."

Yuu closed her eyes in disappointment. Suddenly, a wave of bullets came rushing at the Destiny Gundam from within the city underneath her. In response, Yuu activated her energy shield and casually took a blocking position. Zooming in with the video display, Yuu observed the Searing Impulse that was shooting at her Destiny Gundam.

"The Arios' wrist mounted submachine guns, huh?"

Reaching behind its back, the Destiny Gundam pulled out its beam rifle, and took aim at the right wrist of the Searing Impulse. With two shots, the wrist mounted submachine guns were pierced and destroyed, with the entire right arm of the Searing Impulse exploding from the shoulder downwards. Mina dived back into the shadows of the city after the right arm of her gunpla blew up. Yuu grinned maliciously.

"You aren't getting away from me again!"

The Destiny Gundam unfolded its beam cannon and took aim at the building at which Mina was last seen. With a few seconds of charging delay, another colossal white beam rushed out of the cannon, tearing out an entire strip of the city with unbelievable power.

The beam died down and faded away, and smoke rose from the surface of the demolished city district. All that remained was debris and smoke. Using her video display in her cockpit, Yuu desperately tried to search for the remains of the Searing Impulse within the smoke cloud, only to hear Taijin's voice calling out to Mina from within the smoke.

"Mina, docking!"

"Okay dokay! Not a problem!"

The Destiny Gundam rapidly rotated, desperate to locate the Searing Impulse. After turning around 180 degrees, Yuu was greeted with the sight of the Searing Impulse docking with one of Taijin's unique backpacks. The backpack in question was a lot more triangular than the other three boosters seen in the tournament, with the exception of two massive beam cannon-like parts that seemed to come from the Double X Gundam. After the docking was completed, the Searing Impulse gained sharp, triangular wings with one cannon on each side. Taijin closely observed the inner frame of the booster and the gunpla light up from red to green.

"All systems clear. Blast Searing Impulse MK II C, ready for action!"

Yuu narrowed her eyes as she tried to pinpoint the features of the new booster.

"What an interesting piece of work. Two massive beam cannons with triangular wings. Kind of resembles that … uh… Double X Gundam. Yes, I believe that was its name. If it's the same as that one, I'm going to have to watch out. But that's only for a ranged attack. In terms of melee combat…!"

Drawing the blue anti-ship sword once again, the Destiny gundam rushed at the Searing Impulse MK II.

"It's outmatched!"

The blazing red beam blade formed at the edge of the anti-ship sword as Yuu raised her sword upwards with two hands, ready for a single clean cut. Mina's eyes gently glowed of a malicious ruby color.

"You really think you can cut me with that kind of blade?"

The claws on the Z'gok arm of the Searing impulse instantly spread out, revealing a small hole in the middle of the hand. A thick, blue beam shot out of the hole, forming a built-in beam saber. Swinging it back, Mina prepared to parry Yuu's attack, blade to blade.

"That's just arrogant!"

In an instant, the two gunpla rushed past each other with a thundering boom. Mina's claws retracted as the beam deformed, returning her hand back to normal. Behind her, Yuu's blue anti-ship sword had a hot line of red and white wrapped around it's swinging joint area. With a pause of a few seconds, the blue blade instantly exploded in the hands of the Destiny. Mina rotated her gunpla around and watched as the sword was reduced into debris.

"Yuu, please don't tell me that you're shocked. In fact, the surprised one here is me. Looking at the massive power that your beam cannon packed, I thought that you beefed up your sword as well. I guess I was mistaken."

Without delay, the Destiny Gundam reached across its shoulders and pulled out its beam boomerangs, throwing them both at Mina's idle gunpla. Spinning in the air wildly, the boomerangs headed towards the Searing Impulse in an unpredictable arching motion. Noticing the beam boomerangs headed towards her, Mina redrew her beam blue saber and prepared to parry both of the boomerangs. With two tidy strokes, the beam boomerangs were hit out of the air and sent back towards the Destiny Gundam. Mina then took a fighting stance with her gunpla, preparing to lunge at the Destiny with the beam saber.

"Not in the mood for talk, Yuu? I guess I could relate to that, sometimes I –"

Suddenly, Mina swung her beam saber again to parry the beam boomerangs that the destiny threw again. Hitting the beam blade with tremendous force, the beam sabers were sent flying back into the hands of the destiny; but upon reaching the destiny, Yuu threw them back again without delay. For the third time, Mina swayed her blue blade and hit one of the boomerangs back, but the other boomerang curved around the blade and sliced off a portion of the Searing Impulse's wings that were gained from Taijins booster. Yuu caught the beam boomerangs as they returned to her as she observed Mina struggle to regain her balance.

"You really think that the Impulse can beat the Destiny? It's called an upgrade for a reason."

Without hesitation, Yuu threw the beam boomerangs yet again. But this time, Mina was prepared.

"If you really think that a gunpla's performance is based off where it lies in the show it's from…"

The two beam cannons from Taijin's booster leaned down onto the Searing Impulse's shoulders and locked onto the approaching beam boomerangs.

"…You're deluded!"

Two beams shot out of each cannon and right into the beam boomerangs, easily blowing both boomerangs up as they rushed into the massive white beams of the Blast Booster. Yuu casually dodged the two beams, simply descending her gunpla by a few meters. She observed closely as her two beam boomerangs were reduced into ashes.

"Impressive firepower."

Mina smiled maliciously at Yuu's compliment.

"Gee, thanks for that. Maybe…"

The searing impulse leaned downwards, pointing its two cannons directly at the Destiny Gundam.

"…Maybe you'd like a closer look!"

Two more beams blazed out of the Searing Impulses' two cannons. The Destiny Gundam stood completely still, as if welcoming the beams to hit it. The distance between the beam and the Destiny began to close, yet Yuu remained motionless the whole time.

"But it's still not good enough!"

The Destiny Gundam raised both of its arms over its face as two energy shields emerged from the back of its hands. The beam collided right into the energy shield of the destiny. Within seconds, the energy shield cracked under the power of the beam, tossing the gundam back with magnificent force. The Destiny Gundam was thrust back so severely that it was thrown right into a building on its descent, creating a huge cloud of smoke as the gunpla crashed into the ground. Mina grinned maliciously.

"It's not good enough you said?"

A massive red beam rushed right out of the cloud of smoke formed by the crash of the Destiny Gundam, headed straight for the Searing Impulse. Barely noticing the beam in time, Mina sidestepped to safety, allowing the crimson beam to tear through the cloudy gray plavsky particle sky. Emerging from the smoke cloud like a resurrected angel, the Destiny Gundam spread its two wings, unleashing a beautiful wave of pink energy. The gunpla itself was barely hurt, with a few scratches from the crash. Yuu's eyes glowed ruby as her grip on the floating yellow orbs tightened.

"Taijin, I'm disappointed."

The operator of Team Carbon exclaimed loudly from behind the cockpit after hearing those words. Mina responded with a sigh. Yuu continued talking

"You're the builder of the flight booster used against Elisa, the gauntlet booster used against Yuta and the shield booster used against Raul. Yet the best you can think of for this one is to tear of the Double X's cannons and slap some wings onto them?"

Before Taijin could come up with a response, Mina fired a rebuttal.

"How hypocritical; coming from someone who insists on using an untouched, boring Destiny Gundam. Nobody wants to hear that kind of talk from someone who isn't even bothered enough to add their own spin of originality on their gunpla."

* * *

Closely observing the battle from above, Raul turned his head to Yuta

"What did you say earlier? That Yuu might be able to learn from Mina's positivity?"

Yuta shrugged. He glanced at Mina, whose personality seemed like that of a stranger compared to the usual happy-go-lucky Mina. But instead of taking back his words, Yuta smiled at the change.

"Yeah, that's what I said."

Raul let out another jovial laugh.

"Indeed! Although she might not be laughing and joking around, she's certainly emitting an unbreakable aura of positivity."

Yuta shrugged.

"It's pretty clear, Mina's really trying to get her love for gunpla battle across to Yuu. And she's doing it through a serious, whole hearted fight."

* * *

The Searing Impulse "C" gently floated above the destroyed city, glaring down at the pink winged Destiny Gundam that stood on top of one of the wrecked buildings. Mina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Yuu, sensing an opening, immediately used the enhanced speed granted from the wings of light to surge right up to the face of the pink Searing Impulse. Opening the palm of the Destiny Gundam, Yuu prepared to destroy the Searing Impulse with a single devastating attack. A small, condensed white light began to shine in the palm of the Destiny's hand.

"Palma Fiocina."

With a half second delay, a white beam rushed out from the palm of the Destiny Gundam, large enough to easily engulf an entire gunpla. The beam soared into the skies with a screech, ripping up the clouds above once again. Yuu grunted frustratingly, as in her peripheral vision, she noticed the gunpla of Mina standing to the left of the beam, having easily dodged it.

"You're good at running, I'll give you that."

Mina responded confidently

"You're not so good at aiming."

A sarcastic laugh was let out by Yuu. The two gunpla remained motionless and the battlefield fell into silence. Yuu abruptly stopped her laugh and brought up a suggestion.

"Let's end this, shall we? Let's do it in style."

Taijin raised his eyebrows, curious as to what Yuu was going to say next.

"It's simple, really. No need for all of this dodging or anything fancy like that. Just a one on one beam clash."

The Destiny Gundam unfolded it's green beam cannon and pointed it at the Searing Impulse. However, there was no visible sign of a beam being charged from within the cannon.

"What do you say, Mina?"

Mina opened up private communications with Taijin, and she tilted her head in a worried manner as she opened up video communications.

"What do you think, that beam cannon is strong enough to wipe out parts of the city! Is the blast launcher enough?"

Taijin smiled assuredly.

"Trust me, It's going to be enough, if not more than enough. I've been hiding an ace under my sleeve, and now it's time to use it!"

Mina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She heard the sound of the twin beam cannons of Taijin's launcher unfold onto the Searing Impulse's shoulders. Her eyes remained shut as she listened closer. She began to hear the quiet yet violent roaring that came from within the booster. Realizing what she was hearing, she responded to Yuu with zeal.

"It's on!"

Hearing her cue, Yuu began to charge up her green beam cannon. A single, white condensed orb of pure energy began to form at the tip of the cannon. The orb began to morph colors, with tints of red beginning to appear. On the other hand, the twin beam cannons of the Searing Impulse began to charge up as well, but the cannons weren't the only thing charging. Yuu noticed something peculiar about Mina's gunpla. Something different about it. She opened up her camera and zoomed in on the gunpla.

"That's-"

Steam was rising gently from the surface of the Searing Impulse as the roaring of the Blast booster began to grow louder. A layer of white energy coated the gunpla gently as the glowing orbs began to intensify in power. Taijin explained to Mina through their video communications

"The overclock system works a bit differently on the blast booster. Instead of increasing speed, the overclock system increases the power of the cannons. And right now, it's at full power."

Mina carefully rotated her plavsky particle controllers, and with a click, the Searing Impulse locked onto the main body of the destiny gundam.

"3"

Yuu carefully rotated her plavsky particle controllers, and with a click, the Destiny Gundam locked onto the main body of the Searing Impulse.

"2"

Taijin shifted his hand forward, pushing the plavsky particle controller. At the same time, a bar on his screen began to fill up; a bar that indicated the output of the overclock system.

"1"

* * *

Within the audience stands, Cindy sat with her legs crossed, eagerly watching the battle from the massive LCD screens in the stadium. She noticed both gunpla charging up their cannons, and she smiled at their enthusiasm.

"So this is going to be the final s-"

Suddenly, a bright light burst out from the battle machine at all angles. Accompanied with a thunder-like booming sound, all the spectators in the stadium covered their ears hastily. Cindy covered her eyes as the light grew brighter, eventually covering the entire stadium in white.

After a few seconds, the thundering sound began to die down, and the light began to diffuse. Slowly, Cindy gently put down her hands from her face, and squinted her eyes to try and identify what happened. As if reading her mind, the mysterious cloaked girl that sat next to her spoke out.

"That light was the clash of their beams."

Cindy exclaimed in shock.

"What!? That light?! It seemed more like a malfunction or something like that!"

"No. Their beams were that powerful."

The light continued to die down, until the LCD screens could make out a few faint shapes amongst the light. The arena, which was originally a replica of a ruined, abandoned city, was turned into dust. The battlefield was completely flat, with a blanket of gray ash covering the surface. A single crash sound soon followed after the LCD screens recovered. Panning over to the site of the crash, a blue and red winged mobile suit was identified on the ground, wrecked and helpless.

"Battle Ended"

* * *

**Author's Note : **

Hey Guys, It's Nekronous here. It's been a while, but I'm back. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!

Special thanks goes out to Kintoki Kin for creating the character of Masato Yuu. She's a really enjoyable character to write about, and the story wouldn't be the same without her!

Another thank you goes out to CodeEmperor07, who beta-read the entire chapter. Without him, this entire chapter would have been a jumbled mess.

Chapter 15 is coming soon!

Have a nice day!


	16. Bang

The stadium's crowd was buzzing with gossip in anticipation of the team to be participating in the final round as Spencer's Chaos Bullet flew around the plavsky particle generated canyon stadium. Also in the arena was a silver painted Sumo Gundam, with a broken arm from the elbow down. Like the hunted prey of a deadly predator, the silver sumo desperately tucked itself into a small opening in the canyon, hoping that it could conceal it from the Chaos Bullet that roamed around the stadium. The pilot of the Sumo was panting from in the blue cockpit, with sweat running down his face. Spencer grinned.

"Rain down, my missiles!"

The hidden missile pods of the Chaos Bullet all burst open, revealing dozens upon dozens of small missiles. Rhythmically, they all shot out of their pods, all headed straight for the small opening that the silver sumo was tucked into. The missiles left a trail of gray smoke as they approached the canyon. The silver sumo, desperate to survive, dived out of the crack and into the open. It aimed its hand beam gun and the massive wave of missiles, and began to systematically shoot them down, one by one. Its pilot cried out

"Dammit! Dammit dammit dammit!"

Spencer laughed in amusement at the sumo's pathetic attempt to counter his attack. He watched closely as three missies exploded into pieces, with forty more missiles following behind.

"Give up. It's over."

The missiles one by one crashed into the silver mobile suit, thrusting up sand and rocks from the ground to cover the arena in a thick layer of brown smoke. Before the remains of the sumo could be seen, the battle machine called out

"Battle ended."

* * *

The members of team carbon sat patiently in their lobby room, observing the destruction of the silver sumo from the LCD screen in their room. Not a single person in the room was surprised that Enflamed Quintet was moving onto the final round. They watched as Spencer walked away from the battle machine triumphantly, basking in the applause of the audience. Grind smiled.

"So it's us versus them, huh?"

Mitsuo adjusted his glasses and smiled as well

"Don't say you're surprised. It's as if this were all set up."

Mina gleeful jumped up with her arms outstretched like an energetic cheerleader

"Take their throne! Take their throne!"

Taijin sighed at the sight of his over energetic teammates.

"Guys, we haven't defeated them yet! We've still got the actual fighting to take care of!"

Kosetsu tilted her head gently. She gazed at the group innocently

"And we'll take care of the fighting."

Shortly after, the MC's voice boomed out of the speakers mounted in the room.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! We are here! We are at the finals! The top two teams out of the entire school!"

Thundering applause then commenced, loud and energetic. The entire building was seemingly shaking by the energy emitted by the audience. Roaring through the applause, the MC continued speaking

"The school veterans! The elite team of the school that has been sitting on the throne for many years! Will they step forward and reclaim the throne once again!? One of the two teams competing in the finals, Enflamed Quintet!"

The cheering of the audience grew in volume, reaching an almost deafening volume. The MC, after a short pause, continued.

"The opposing team is a newcomer team! Coming out of nowhere, they appeared strong and sturdy, taking down every opponent in their path. Can they do the same with Enflamed Quintet?! The second of the two competing teams, Team Carbon!"

The audience continued to cheer and yell energetically, with the building continuing to shake.

"Well, now let's begin to process of picking people! Which fighters shall compete in this intense, final battle?! First of all, from team Enflamed Quintet…Elisa Ayumi! Now, from team Carbon…"

Instantly, all eyes on the room feel on Kosetsu. Not only was she the only fighter that has yet to battle, but she was also the team's strongest one. With an untouched, powerful Sapphire Exia gundam, she was without a doubt the only person who could stand up to Elisa.

"…Kosetsu Yukimura!"

* * *

A mysterious man sat in one of the spectator's seats in the back row. He had shades on, and was wearing a formal tuxedo. He glanced carefully at the battle machine in the center of the room that was soon going to be the battlefield for the final round. He placed his hand by his ear, revealing a communication device. He whispered into it discretely,

"This is it, correct?"

After some short static, a male voice responded on the other end

"Yes. This is the one. Yesterday, this battle machine was activated, presumably for some battle royale event. But when it deactivated, the numbers didn't match up. Fewer plavsky particles returned back into the machine than what was let out. If it were just your average pilot error, the numbers should be miniscule. But for as much as 9% of the billions of billions of particles to go missing…"

The shaded man snapped his fingers.

"It's gotta be the powers of the pilot espers. Esper powers, was it?"

The man on the other end of the communication device replied

"Yes, we believe so. The pilot esper believed to have set this off is Kosetsu Yukimura. She was working with Cinders Heather for quite some time. We don't know what Cindy is up to, but she seems to have turned Kosetsu into a Pilot Esper. If this information is correct, then track her down and kidnap her. The information that she could provide to us is going to be crucial if we want to take care of the God Esper. We are stationed in a café near the school. If things go south, give us a call. If it goes real bad, we might have to use "that". I'd rather not, but if Kosetsu is confirmed to be an esper, you know the drill. Over."

The call ended after a short static noise. The shaded man then took off his shades, revealing thin, snake like eyes. He reached into his suit and pulled out what appeared to be thick, bulky black binoculars. He put them on his eyes and adjusted the lenses, having them point straight at the battle machine.

The entire stadium boomed in applause as the two fighters from both sides entered the main stadium, but the man did not waver. He stood still, completely focused on watching the competitors from behind the lenses of the binoculars. The black haired, Hakama wearing girl stepped on one side of the battle machine, her chestnut eyes blazing with energy. She smiled at Kosetsu modestly.

"Good luck, Kosetsu."

Kosetsu approached from the other side of the battle machine, her cream hair waving as she passed. She tilted her head innocently and replied

"You too."

Taijin followed shortly behind her, carrying with him his suitcase of boosters. He opened the suitcase, and reached in to grab a familiar blue jet that was used against Elisa in their last encounter.

"Let's do this."

The lights in the stadium shut down all at once, leaving only a single spotlight upon the fighters that stood confidently in the center of the room. The mechanical voice of the battle machine called out

"Please set your GP Base."

The fighters all pulled out their rectangular identification machines and placed them in the central battle machine. They clicked satisfyingly, and the black screens of the GP base lit up in light blue, revealing the fighter's names and gunplas. Taking the activation of the GP base as his cue, the mysterious man used his index finger, and pressed a button that was on top of the binoculars. The lenses of the binoculars rapidly faded into a light blue, revealing the logo of PPSE etched into the side of the binoculars.

"Let's see then. These lenses filter out all visible light aside from plavsky particles. What I'm expecting to see is the battle machine glowing, and that alone. If any people glow, however…"

Through the lenses, the mysterious man saw a bright white silhouette of the battle machine. Next to the white battle machine, however, was a gently glowing outline of both Kosetsu and Taijin. The man snickered.

"So it's correct after all…and there's even two of them…"

Panning around the room, the binoculars examined the stadium for any more potential espers. However, as it panned across a certain section of the room, the lenses suddenly burst into white, blinding the man.

"Gah!"

He lowered the binoculars and rubbed his eyes. He sighed, and turned over the binoculars, revealing a circular rotating mechanism. Turning the circle carefully, the man adjusted the intensity of the plavsky particle filters. Bringing up to his eyes again, he looked around. Kosetsu and Taijin was now barely glowing at all, with a thin border of blue to distinguish them from the rest. The battle machine was still glowing white. The man panned around once more, and as he approached the area where he was blinded before, he instinctively turned up the filter to the maximum. Through the lens everything was pitch black. Even the battle machine that once glowed white through the lenses ceased to shine at all. However, as he continued down the route, he noticed a bright white silhouette of a young girl. He lowered his binoculars and gazed at the area in amazement. He whispered

"Oh god…"

Hastily reaching into his suit, he pulled out a rectangular remote control device. He pointed it directly at the battle machine, and pressed a red button on the remote control. The same mechanical voice of the battle machine whispered from inside the remote control

"Force discontinuation: 30 seconds."

* * *

The plavsky particles in the central stadium began to rise and dance beautifully. Slowly fading into light shades of gray, blue and black, the machine painted a beautiful portrait of the universe, complete with stars and asteroids. The mechanical voice called out from within the battle machine upon the completion of the arena

"Field 1: Space. Please set your gunpla"

Kosetsu instinctively reached into her waist mounted gunpla holder and pulled out her gunpla. Placing it onto the launching pad with confidence, her blue gunpla shined brilliantly under the light of the plavsky particles. It was indeed still the sapphire exia, but the outer armor glittered with specks of silver; as if the model were an exclusive titanium finish. The cutting edges of the twin GN blades were sharpened to perfection. With one GN blade held in each hand on a gunpla that appeared to have armor glazed with lead, Kosetsu smiled confidently.

On the other side of the battle arena, Elisa's red Legilis stood on the launching catapult with its arms crossed. Its armor was polished and cleaned flawlessly, and its tail piece was thickened and buffed. The beam rifle seemed to have been upgraded with a longer barrel, along with the gunmetal paintjob that suited it brilliantly. Most distinctively though, was the shield that it brought. Instead of the puny, energy bit packed shield that the original brought, Elisa custom made an entirely new shield, much bigger and stored many more energy bits. Its single mono-eye activated rapidly, glowing a ferocious shade of yellow.

The lights on the side of the catapults changed from red, to yellow, to green, prompting the battle machine to call out

"Battle Start!"

"Elisa Ayumi, Crimson Legilis II, Heading out!"

"Kosetsu Yukimura, Sapphire Exia II, Let's go!"

Both players pushed their yellow orbs forward, commanding their respective gunpla to launch out of the catapult with a fearsome and confident push into the battlefield.

But nothing.

The blue plavsky particles that formed the blue cockpit around the players turned into a shade of dark gold, leaving the massive stadium with a single light source of yellow. The battle machine announced

"Battle discontinued"

Suddenly, a bullet tore through the air with a thundering bang.

Panic arose from within the stadium, with spectators flooding out of the exits like panicking sheep. Kosetsu and Elisa released their grips from the plavsky particle controllers and stood still, completely confused. The second floor began to evacuate out as well, with the exception of the members of Team Carbon as well as Yuta, Raul and Yuu.

The mysterious, suited man stood up from his spectator seat, holding a single pistol that was pointed to the ceiling. The bullet ripped through the metal roof of the stadium, allowing for a single ray of sunlight to shine down upon the man as the stadium emptied itself at an incredible pace. Preparing to fire his second shot, the man aimed the gun directly at the cloaked girl who stood next to Cindy. Without hesitation, the man pulled the trigger, and a second bullet flew out of the pistol, headed directly for the right eye of the girl.

Bullseye

The bullet hit directly onto the silver eye patch that she wore. The bullet landed on the floor with two clangs as the girl stood completely motionless. Hearing the second gunshot, Cindy turned around as she was leaving. She gasped at the sight of the cloaked girl standing motionless, like a haunted ragdoll.

"H-Hey, you alright?"

The last fleeing spectator left the stadium, and the doors closed slowly. The cloaked girl, whom Cindy thought was dead, began to chuckle. Seeing as how the bullet didn't kill her, the man reached for his ear, yelling into it

"I'm calling it! I need help! I need you guys here pronto! The god esper is here!"

The silver eye patch slid off the girl's right eye having its string cut off by the force of the bullet, revealing a glowing golden eye. It shined in the darkness like a legendary gem. The girl spoke in a sarcastic, malicious tone.

"My, My. How rude of you…I have a human name too, you know?"

The suited man reloaded his pistol as he taunted the girl

"What, you're going to formally introduce yourself?"

The girl reached over her shoulder and tore off her cloak, revealing a silver and black gothic dress. She had long, black hair tied into twin tails, and she was wearing black high heels. As the fabric remains of the cloak rained down around her, she responded maliciously

"Oh my, of course not. There's no need to introduce myself to a corpse."

Upon hearing the words that the girl spoke, Taijin turned around hastily. He remembered the voice. It was the same voice that spoke to him in his dream. The voice of Kirami Hatake.

"_You cannot be afraid to take risks. You cannot change the world without getting your hands dirty."_

Taijin's eyes widened as they met with Kirami's. He called to her

"You, you're the god esper?!"

The suited man, without any warning, tightened his grip on his gun and pointed it at Taijin, who was completely distracted while trying to speak to the god esper. Before he could pull the trigger, he stopped to listen to an unfamiliar sound that was approaching him from above. It sounded like some sort of wail, or a battle cry. Listening closer, he could make out a few words.

"MINA SPINNING DROP KICK!"

Leaping from the second floor window, Mina smashed her foot onto the neck of the suspicious man, easily knocking him down onto the ground. She held him down as she tied his hands with her belt. She leaned in, and interrogated him

"Who are you and what do you want?"

The man giggled. Mina leaned in closer, and she heard the static that came from the man's earpiece, followed by

"We're at the gate right now with guns. Heading in!"

Mina exclaimed to everybody in the stadium

"Guys! It's going to get dangerous! There's more people coming and they're all bringing guns!"

Cindy pulled out a jeweled, golden phone from her pocket. He hastily dialed the number of the police, and brought the phone up to her ear.

"This is an emergency, we ne-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the stadium's front doors were flung open violently, and eight men, all in tuxedos, stormed into the stadium. One of them noticed Cindy with her phone, and took aim right at her. Noticing the desperate situation, Cindy raised her hands up and dropped the phone onto the ground. Another one of the men stepped forward, and called out to everyone in the stadium

"This is not a robbery. As long as you comply with our conditions, none of you will be hurt."

Kirami glanced at the eight men. She had a bored and unentertained expression on her face. The man pointed directly at Kosetsu

"That girl there. We're taking her. As well as her friend there. But most importantly…huh?"

The man abruptly stopped his speech as he noticed one of the girls approach him from the center of the stadium. Her chestnut eyes glowed in anger. He smiled at the high school student that approached him. Taijin's eyes widened in fear as he watched Elisa confidently approach six armed men. She spoke out in rage, her voice booming through the room.

"Leave now. This will be your only warning."

The man laughed sarcastically. He pulled out a pistol from his suit and took aim at Elisa.

"Don't play heroes and heroines, kid. If you don't want to get hurt, do as we say."

Elisa sighed.

"I guess we're going to have to fight bac-"

Unexpectedly yet elegantly, Kirami dashed towards the men from behind Elisa, with her fist clenched. She passed Elisa like the wind, and in a few seconds she went from being in the stands to in front of the intruders. She reached out and grabbed the hand of the man pointing his gun at Elisa. She leaned in and whispered

"This might hurt"

With godlike strength, Kirami crushed the wrist of the man, sending him sprawling onto the ground, tossing his pistol to the side. Instantly grasping the situation, all of the armed men pointed their guns at the monster before them. They stared intensely as Kirami brushed her hair aside. She glanced up at all of the men.

"Unless if you want to end up like that guy there, I suggest you all leave."

One of the men stepped forward, tightening his grip on his gun.

"You think we're scared of you?"

Kirami laughed.

"Please. You're all about as threatening as a pack of new born Chihuahuas. But if you insist on shooting me like the man earlier did, I can't guarantee you'll make it out with all your limbs intact."

Without warning, one of the men fired a bullet directly at Kirami. The sound of the gunshot echoed through the empty stadium. Kirami froze in place. The men all glanced at her in confusion.

"You did fire…right? Where did the bullet enter?"

"I don't know…I don't see any blood."

Slowly and elegantly, Kirami brought up her left hand in a fist. She slowly opened the palm of her hand, and a metal bullet lay right in the center. She turned her hand around, and she let it drop.

Clang.

The men instantly turned tail and bolted out of the room.

"M-Monster!"

"God esper? More like demon!"

One of the men in particular reached over to his earpiece. He cried into it

"The situation has changed! We need to awaken AE-01!"

A voice whispered out of the earpiece

"AE-01?! The secret project!?"

"Just do it, that's an order!"

* * *

A dark, isolated laboratory. A lone, stressed scientist scratched his head as he received the orders from the PPSE agents. He was getting along in years, with gray hairs starting to appear all over his head. He sighed, and walked towards the corner of the room, where a single, gray human-containing pod waited for him. The pod was labeled as "AE-01". He reached over to the pod and placed his hand on the activation pad

"It's time to wake up, boy."

The lid made a loud hissing sound of steam. It opened up slowly and mechanically. From within the pod, a gray haired teenage boy lay in stasis. His eyes closed, circuit-like markings present on his cheeks and exposed skin. The scientist whispered to himself.

"I don't know what's going on out there, but if they've called for you…it must be serious."

The lid opened up completely, and the boy slowly opened his eyes, which shone of foggy topaz.

"Setsuna Shirokage. Anti Esper 01" The scientist greeted. The boy, now identified as Setsuna, looked at him before he stepped out of the pod.

"It's time to get prepared." The boy silently nodded. "Haro…." The scientist called out, and the round robot hopped into the room.

"Hello! Hello!" It greeted the silver haired teen, who just looked down upon it.

"Haro, do you have his gunpla?" The scientist asked as he readied the transport for Setsuna.

"Roger! Roger!" The round robot opened its mouth, revealing a gunpla whose form was still obscured by the shadows, but seemed to emit pure malice, rage, and destruction. If one would look closely, they could see its eyes aa bright, inferno orange, the same glow that Setsuna's eyes had for a brief moment.

* * *

Kirami Hatake sighed at the event that just occurred. Just because of PPSE's plan to kidnap some Pilot Espers, the entire stadium has been evacuated. And with no MC to record the events, the tournament finals may have been cancelled. Just like that. Taijin walked over to Kirami, asking again politely

"You're…the god esper?"

Kirami nodded.

"Taijin Sakamoto. It has been a while."

Cindy approached them from the spectator seats, curious as to what is going on.

"Wait, you've met before?"

Taijin giggled nervously as he scratched his head

"Well…sort of…we had a conversation through a dream…"

Without delay, Cindy stepped forward, with several pressing questions to ask about the god esper

"Kirami Hatake? May I have a moment with you? I have so many questions to ask you! Like, how did you catch the bullet? Can you explain esper powers? How did -"

"No."

Kirami cut the question of Cindy short, raising an especially important point.

"The longer I remain here, the more dangerous it is for all of you. It's unlikely that PPSE are just going to back off after that one encounter. It's best if I leave into hiding now."

She glanced at Taijin and Kosetsu, flashing them a gentle, sincere smile.

"I felt a disruption in the plavsky particles yesterday, so I just wanted to pay the two new pilot espers a visit. Now that I've done that, I shall give you one last warning."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a spare eyepatch, meant to coneal her extravagant golden eye. She tied it around her eye, covering it with a layer of metallic gray.

"As you just saw, PPSE isn't too fond of pilot espers. They think that we know too much about the particles, like how to manipulate them and such. Of course, to a certain extent it's true. But the point is, they want us dead. None of those men hesitated to bring in firearms to a high school tournament. That's the legnths that they are willing to go to to silence us."

Kirami pulled over her hoodie, concealing her black twin tails and the majority of her face in a black shadow.

"Tread carefully, Kosetsu Yukimura, Taijin Sakamoto."

Taijin reached out his hand, and desperately cried out

"Could we exchange phone numbers or something? I don't want this to be our last encounter!"

"Don't worry, we will meet again. Should the situation arise, I shall communicate to you through dreams, just like I had done before. But if things get rough, I'll be there."

Elisa cleared her throat, and she brought up a much more pressing matter.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we're in the middle of a tournament. And with everything as it is now, how are we going to resume? No audience, No MC and no battle machine…"

From the second floor, the group heard a voice call out

"If it's an audience you need, we're still here!"

Glancing up to the second floor spectator area, the other members of Team Carbon as well as Yuu, Yuta and Raul were still present, eagerly awaiting the resuming of the battle. Elisa, without delay, brought up another issue.

"Well, the MC isn't here, right? How is the battle going to be recorded?"

Cindy responded to Elisa's query instantly.

"The machine did say 'battle start', right? That means that if you finish that battle, it should be recorded in the system. And since that machine is linked directly to the tournament brackets, it should update automatically."

Everybody glanced at the battle machine, and noticed yet another problem. Its yellow plavsky walls indicated that it was currently in a state of discontinuation. Elisa sighed.

"Well we don't know how to disable the discontinued status…"

Kirami walked over to the battle machine, and tapped its metallic surface.

"Leave that to me."

All at once, the yellow plavsky particles rushed into blue, relighting up the hangars of the two gunpla. They were both untouched and completely new, waiting to be dispatched. The battle machine called out

"Battle Resume!"

Smiling at the group innocently, Kirami sarcastically asked

"So, is that enough for you to fight?"

Taijin, Kosetsu and Elisa nodded to each other, and they each went back to their blue, transparent pilot cockpits. Kirami counted down, and as she swiped her hand in the air, the entire audience of the battle screamed out in unison

"Battle Start!"

"Elisa Ayumi, Crimson Legilis II, Heading out!"

"Kosetsu Yukimura, Sapphire Exia II, Let's go!"

As both gunpla launched from their respective hangars, the fight finally begun. As Elisa took a closer look at the Sapphire Exia, she couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia as it reminded her of the gunpla her best friend used before he…..

The raven haired girl shook herself out of memory lane. She had one directive as of now, and that was to be victorious.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Hey guys. I hope you've enjoyed the latest chapter of the story.

I would like to sincerely thank CodeEmperor07 for all of his work on this story. I was falling back, and he didn't hesitate to not only help me beta read the chapter, but also write quite a bit on it as well. Thank you so much man, without you, this chapter would have taken so much longer to be released.

I'd also like to take a moment to give a few shout outs to some GBF fanfics i've been reading latey

\- Tales of the Valiant Knight by Valiant Haruto

\- Moving Forward by Admiral Muffin

\- GBF Eclipse by Hikaru Kurayami

Once again, thank you so much, CodeEmperor07.

Chapter 16 is coming soon!

Have a nice day!


	17. A duel to remember

An unfitting audience for the final round of the annual school tournament. The lone members of Team Carbon, the 3 school aces; and Cindy who took the MC seat. Only a tiny fraction of the original audience was present to witness the greatest gunpla battle to ever occur on Raizen High School grounds.

The two red and blue gunpla launched out of their respective catapults into the dark void of space. In the arena were several asteroids and small pieces of debris, but most distinctively, a massive abandoned colony floated around the arena aimlessly. Soon after they launched from their catapults, on different ends of the battlefield, they quickly located each other's mobile suits. Without delay, they both charged fiercely at each other, leaving an energy trail of crimson and azure as they went. The large GN sword on the right arm of the Sapphire Exia II unfolded, and it was quickly coated in a thin layer of red energy. On the other side of the battlefield, a thin, dense golden beam saber shot out from the palm of the red Legilis, with a jagged, raging cutting edge. The two gunpla were approaching each other at seemingly uncontrollable speeds, with their blades ready to strike.

Their blades met with unbelievable force, with the collision of the beams shining like a prominent star. With the two beam coated blades cutting against one another, Kosetsu reached over to her other arm, and unfolded her other GN sword. She decisively swung around her other blade, seeing a striking opening for an early advantage. Noticing the movements of the Sapphire Exia, Elisa overpowered the blue gundam, pushing it back with the Legilis' free hand. With both of her GN blades drawn, Kosetsu spun around and reengaged without delay. This time, Elisa outstretched her other hand, and the massive energy coated GN blade of the Sapphire Exia smashed into the enlarged, buffed up shield of the Crimson Legilis.

The other blade of the Sapphire Exia was parried with the Legilis' active beam saber, and with a skillful twist of the waist and a perfectly timed duck, the Crimson Legilis kicked the Sapphire Exia II upwards towards an asteroid. Quickly regaining her balance, Kosetsu gently tapped her boosters, slowing down her speed and resulting in her gently touching the rocky surface of the asteroid. Taking note of her current position, the Sapphire Exia extended her left arm, and pointed its GN blade right towards the Crimson Legilis, ready to execute her signature attack that eliminated Spencer on the first day of the tournament.

Pouncing off the asteroid at incredible speeds, the Sapphire Exia II surged right towards the Crimson Legilis, with its GN blade ready to strike. Elisa reacted quickly, and activated both of her yellow beam sabers in both of her hands. She pointed them both towards the Sapphire Exia that was headed towards her at insane speeds, and she patiently waited for it to approach closer. Once Kosetsu was exactly 2 meters away, Elisa turned around with her blades swinging in the air, creating a circular motion. The GN blades of the Exia perfectly collided with the yellow beam saber blade of the Legilis, and the Exia simply rushed past the Legilis, with both mobile suits being completely unharmed.

Headed straight for another asteroid, the sapphire Exia slammed its feet into it, and pounced back towards the Legilis without a second of delay. Repeating the same circular motion one again, Kosetsu's speedy and elegant attack was parried once again, and yet the sapphire Exia did not halt its charge after it blazed past the crimson Legilis once again. Stubbornly heading towards yet another asteroid, Kosetsu was determined to repeat the attack until she found a flaw in Elisa's counter technique. Once again engraving her feet into a third asteroid, the Sapphire Exia pounced up again, headed right towards Elisa's Legilis. Once again, the Legilis waited patiently for the Exia to approach closer, and it grasped its two beam sabers right, ready to once again repeat the spin counter.

Unexpectedly, at the very last second, Kosetsu spun her mobile suit around, and instead of intending to strike from her right GN sword, her left GN sword was headed right at the red Legilis, seemingly at the perfect angle to strike. Confidently reading Kosetsu's motions, Elisa spun around once again, but instead of spinning clockwise, she spun around anticlockwise. Achieving the same effect, Kosetsu's blade briefly collided with the spinning beams of the Crimson Legilis, before the Sapphire Exia dashed off into the distance.

One more time, the Sapphire Exia headed to the fourth asteroid, and slammed its now dirty and scratched feet into it. Pouncing out again, this time, Kosetsu drew both blades of the Sapphire Exia, intending to perform an uncountable cross cut using both of her swords. Elisa watched carefully, as Kosetsu approached once again, attempting a different technique. She outstretched both of her activated golden beam sabers, and waited patiently for the Sapphire Exia to approach the exact distance.

This time, stopping at an exact 1 meter, the Legilis quickly performed a reverse cross cut, and both of the gunplas two blades met, completely equal in technique. However, due to the insane speed boost gained from pouncing off an asteroid at full speed, the Sapphire Exia effortlessly overpowered the Crimson Legilis, pushing it backwards and crashing against a massive boulder. The force was so unstoppable that the two gunpla even broke through the first asteroid that it crashed through, only halting at the second asteroid that broke their blaze through space.

Using her advanced knowledge of martial arts, Elisa crouched her legs, and placed them on the stomach of the Sapphire Exia. Kicking back fiercely, the Crimson Legilis broke free of Kosetsu's blades, as they grew dangerously close to cutting through her yellow beams. The pearl shine of the Sapphire Exia's outer armor was beautifully reflected against the sunlight shining from one corner of the battlefield, giving the illusion that the gunpla was composed of an otherworldly blue ethereal energy.

Unfolding her GN blade, Kosetsu aimed at the Crimson Legilis, which was lying wide open on the surface of a cracked asteroid. Decicively pulling the trigger from behind her plavsky particle controller, several pink hot beams rushed out from the GN blade, headed accurately towards the chest of the Crimson Legilis. Reaching over with her red shield, the beams quickly hit the surface of Elisa's shield, defending the main body of the gunpla and thrusting up gray smoke from the asteroid's surface. Kosetsu briefly paused her assault on the Legilis, and patiently waited for the smoke to diffuse before attacking once more.

As the smoke wafted around through the void of space, slowly but surely, small yellow dots started to appear through the thick layer of smoke. More and more started to fade into vison, and Kosetsu's eyes squinted as she quickly caught onto the fact that Elisa was releasing her beam bits stored in her shield. Quickly grasping her disadvantageous position, the Sapphire Exia retreated, only to have several small yellow beam orbs follow her out of the smoke, shooting out beams towards the fleeing gunpla.

One by one, Kosetsu used her GN blades to systematically swipe away at the beams, cutting them down one at a time. As the yellow firing beam of the Legilis' beam orbs hit the surface of the Sapphire Exia's metallic blade, it would reflect off the cutting edge, flying off into another direction. The Sapphire Exia was dancing with its GN swords, comfortably deflecting every beam that came at it. The beams that were deflected zoomed off into completely random directions, hitting asteroids, debris and some beams crashing into the massive space colony.

Emerging from the cloud of smoke, the Crimson Legilis extended its hands, guiding even more beam bits from within its red shield. Rushing around in all directions, the entire battlefield was swarmed with miniscule yellow orbs within a few seconds. Every inch of the arena had a yellow orb floating around, all patiently awaiting orders. Kosetsu paused her defensive dance and unfolded her GN swords to gaze at the infinite yellow stars that suddenly appeared in the arena for one second.

All at once, the beam bits systematically fired their beams directly at the Sapphire Exia, with the yellow charged laser aimed perfectly at the head of the Sapphire Exia. With a quick and decisive turn of her wrist, Kosetsu covered the face of the Exia, only to have a faint blue energy shield emerge from each hand. The beams all struck the energy shield with incredible force, knocking the Sapphire Exia back significantly, despite the shield absorbing most of the attack. Without hesitation, the Legilis commanded the beam bits to fire once more. This time, as the beam struck the energy shield, they were instantly reflected back into the void of space at a sharp angle, with some deflected lasers hitting the beam bits of the Legilis.

The wrist mounted energy shields on the wrists of the Exia dematerialized, and the Sapphire Exia drew its swords once more, charging right towards the Legilis with its right arm raised. The Legilis responded nervously, backing away and shooting beams at the Exia using its beam rifle. The beams were much hotter and wider than the beams shot from the yellow bits, but they were dodged just as easily. After realizing the futility of her shots, Elisa adjusted the power restraints on her beam rifle, and charged it up to double of what it was before.

Noticing an abrupt change in the stance and grip of the Legilis, Kosetsu worryingly drew her wrist mounted energy shield once more, ready to block the attack that came from the hot beam rifle of the Legilis. As she suspected, the beam that was shot out by the Legilis was terrifyingly massive, easily engulfing twice the width of the previous shot with more than double the force. Colliding with the beam shield of the Exia, the yellow burning beam shot of the Legilis was slowly but surely tearing through the thin energy skin of Kosetsu's beam shield.

Tilting her gunpla's angle at the very last second, Kosetsu managed to reflect the beam off the energy shield at a neat 30 degree angle, resulting in the Legilis' shot bouncing off and engulfing an entire asteroid as it passed into space. The sheer heat that the beam exerted was enough to slightly bend the pearl, reinforced shoulder armor of the Sapphire Exia, resulting in a certain circular discoloration mark caused in battle.

Without delay, the Legilis instantly pulled the trigger and fired a second shot the moment the cool down was off. With enough time to react now, Kosetsu turned around and zoomed off into the distance, taking cover behind shipwrecked debris and larger asteroids as the massive beam swept through the arena. The beam died down, and a massive belt of little rocks and pebbles filled the arena after Elisa relaxingly reduced most of the field into dust.

Kosetsu patiently waited behind an asteroid on the field for the smoke to truly die down, and for Elisa to begin looking for her. However, Kosetsu glanced slightly to the side of her gunpla, which immediately forced her to abandon her plan of patiently waiting as she noticed at the corner of her eye a small yellow orb that was covered in dust.

As Elisa predicted she would, Kosetsu took cover behind an asteroid when she swept her beam across the field, and she planted her beam bit orbs into the asteroids accordingly. With the press of a button on her golden spherical controller, Elisa immediately detonated all of her beam bits on the field, resulting in a massive arena engulfing chain explosion. A beautifully aligned line of fire formed before her visor as every single last remaining asteroid on the field exploded into nothingness. More smoke was thrust into the field as the dusty remains of the field objects began to dissolve.

From within the smoke, two red glowing eyes shined maliciously as the Sapphire Exia stood motionless, with a missing right leg from the knee downwards. The smoke wafted as a jet fighter emerged from its hanger from far behind the Sapphire Exia. It was blue and white, and had two distinct wings that separated it from any other existing fighter jet from any Gundam universe. It was unusual and unique, and yet Elisa recognized the booster at first glance.

The flight booster dashed out of the smoke clouds, ready to dock with the back of the Sapphire Exia's GN drive. Folding the head over and rotating its wings, the flight booster neatly lined up to the back of the Sapphire Exia before systematically docking into it, with rotating and gripping parts to ensure their connection. Kosetsu spread her new, blue wings, which were a shade that beautifully complimented that of the Sapphire Exia's already pearl blue armor.

Drawing the twin GN blades from its unfolded state once more, Kosetsu took an offensive stance, aiming to cut down the Legilis where it stood. Elisa responded confidently, and she drew both of her beam sabers while unfolding her wings as well. Wasting no time, both mobile suits dashed right at each other, with their blades ready to be swung.

With a clear advantage in speed, Kosetsu comfortably rushed right past Elisa, taking off part of the Legilis' left wing before she had any time to even react. With a sharp turn, the Exia rushed around and prepared to take off the other side of the Legilis' wings. Noticing her just in time, Elisa spun around and parried the blade of the Sapphire Exia with her jagged yellow beam saber. The Exia rushed past the Legilis as usual, with a small red ring formed around the right wing of the Sapphire Exia. Neatly sliding off the surface, the tip of the Flight booster's wings were cleanly cut off by the Legilis.

Seeing that Elisa had already grown used to the new speed of the Sapphire Exia, Kosetsu could no longer assume that her speed meant that she had an advantage. Seeing an opportunity to make the battle more interesting, the Sapphire Exia spread its wings as it zoomed off into the distance, approaching the massive abandoned colonial asteroid left in the middle of the field. It appeared unusually large in shape and size, with little lights and tunnels that ran all the way through the massive asteroid. Without a doubt, it was Solomon. Elisa smiled, and happily accepted Kosetsu's invitation as she spread her tattered wings and headed out after the Sapphire Exia.

The Sapphire Exia dived into one of the tunnels in the asteroid, heading down a narrow, silver corridor that seemed to lead to a larger central area. Using the cameras that were mounted on the back of the head, Kosetsu noticed that Elisa was approaching her from behind, slowly but surely catching up in speed. She unfolded her gn blades, and began to start slicing at random protruding pipes and other metal parts in the area, hoping to send them flying back at the Legilis. Elisa noticed the pieces of debris that were sent flying towards her, and she brought over the tail of the Legilis, and mounted it on it's shoulders. Leaning back, Elisa prepared to fire a charged shot, intending to eliminate both the approaching debris as well as the Sapphire Exia in front of her.

Kosetsu grunted as she saw Elisa charging her cannon from behind. In such a tight corner, she had no place to run, and the nearest turn was too far away to rely on. Taking an extremely risky move, Kosetsu flicked her wrist, and decisively activated the option "SP-01". Roaring from the center of the flight booster, white steam began to rise from the already pearl surface of the gunpla, covering it in an incredible holy glow. Blazing forwards at speeds triple that of before, Kosetsu reached the nearest turn in a matter of seconds, sharply outmaneuvering the Crimson Legilis. By the time the beam cannon left the tail of the Legilis, the Sapphire Exia was no longer anywhere to be seen. The beam cannon simply crashed through the entire corridor, piercing right through the colony. Elisa's charged blast left a hole leading all the way back out to space.

Rushing out from within the blast smoke, Kosetsu charged outwards in a steaming rage, with her GN sword coated in white flames. With barely enough time to react, Elisa brashly ducked, narrowly missing certain death by the width of a hair strand. Reaching out with her hand, Elisa attempted to grab the Sapphire Exia by the waist, only to feel the hand of the Legilis melt on the first contact. Pulling away immediately, the Legilis performed a spin kick, temporarily knocking back the gleaming white Sapphire Exia back by a small margin. Recovering from the kick elegantly with a space tumble turn, Kosetsu quickly regained her stance and took an offensive posture, showing off her two GN blades which seemed to be covered in the white flames of the overclock system.

Glancing down at her melted and deformed left hand, Elisa smiled softly as she felt an uncontrollable pulse of adrenaline blaze through her body. Rotating her yellow orb controller, Elisa brought up a panel on her gunpla ability section that read "SP-01", and she clicked on it without hesitation. Suddenly, two massive blue beam sabers rushed out from the palms of the Legilis, much denser, hotter and larger than the yellow ones that were used earlier. They had a jagged cutting edge of diamond, with a unique shine that was never seen on the battlefield as of yet. The crimson red hue of the Legilis began to change in color, slowly but surely into a more iridescent blue color. Tossing away the shield that was longer able to hold any more beam bits, Elisa mirrored the stance of the white glowing Sapphire Exia, with its two mighty blue beam swords letting out a loud hiss.

In sync, the two gunpla charged at each other once more, with their swords raised and ready to strike. The swords smashed into each other at an unbelievable force, with one strike easily creating a shockwave the cracked the surface of the massive asteroid they were fighting in. Blade on blade, the two gunpla leaned into each other, staring into each other's eyes. The raging white and blue Sapphire Exia II and the rampant blue and red Crimson Legilis II.

A blink was all it took to miss the events that happened next.

Backing away at blazing speeds. Rushing back with malignantly magnificent force. Blade crashed into blade. Beam collided with beam. Elisa and Kosetsu danced an elegantly violent dance, reducing the colony they were fighting in into dust in just a few strokes. The colony of Solomon cracked open under the sheer force of the fight that took place inside, revealing the two fighters into the black void of space. A black canvas which they were going to paint blue and white very, very quickly.

Chasing each other around in the black void of space, bouncing off the broken parts of Solomon, their blades never failed to meet with perfect precision. At the perfect angle, the perfect force with perfect timing. Both fighters would rush past one another, unharmed and yet unsatisfied.

Within the span of just a few seconds, the entire battlefield was dyed with lines of white and blue, with yellow explosions taking place as they continued to reduce Solomon into pieces of indistinguishable metal and trash.

The two fighters paused their dance for one second as they exchanged blades one more time. Neither pulled away. Their swords met, cutting into each other at incredible power. Kosetsu, for one moment, had an idea. She kicked the Legilis back for one second, and she backed off herself. For a moment, neither fighter moved. They were simply caught in the moment, too captivated in the fight to even talk. The armor of the sapphire Exia was torn down and tattered, with scratches, scars and blade marks left all over the gunpla. The GN blades were getting worn down, the formerly razor sharp edges were now reduced and dulled. The right leg of the Exia was missing from the knee down, with the left leg of the gunpla suffering from dents and dirt marks all over the place. Looking over at the Crimson Legilis, it was obvious that Elisa was in a similar position. Her wings were in pieces, barely being held together by a loose joint. Both palms of the Legilis were melting down due to the unbelievable force of the beam sabers. The blue coated armor of the Legilis was beginning to wear off, with dents in some places morphing the plastic surface of the gunpla.

Elisa deactivated her left hand's beam saber and doubled the beam saber output on her right hand, signaling that she was homing in on the final strike. She raised her right hand, and took a noble, humble fighting stance as she took aim on the cracked chest of the Sapphire Exia. Elisa's eyes widened in happiness as she felt a pulse of adrenaline pass through her body.

Kosetsu, noticing that the overclock was going to time out in a few seconds, pulled out her trump card. Her last resort. The one technique which she insisted to hide until the very last second. She turned her controller panel and opened up the panel of "SP-02". Kosetsu smiled softly and activated the option as she felt a rush of adrenaline overpower her body. She instinctively whispered to herself in more emotion than normal

"Trans-Am"

Immediately, lines of crimson began to pulse through the Sapphire Exia, mimicking Kosetsu's pulses of adrenalin that phased through her body. As the lines passed through, the blue surface of the Exia began to change into a tint of fearsome, terrifying red. It glistened under the light of the battlefield, reflecting the light of the sun that shone in an inaccessible field area. The steam of the overclock system began to wrap around the new trans-am armor of the Exia, creating the illusion that the Sapphire Exia was being engulfed in a bloody red fire. Kosetsu discarded her left GN sword, unfolding it and tossing it into space. She took an offensive stance as she doubled the beam coating on her right GN sword.

Both gunpla dashed towards each other, ready for the final blow. Elisa confidently charged towards the glowing Exia, with her glowing blue beam blade roaring as she came. Kosetsu's speed was so significant that faint afterimages were left where she went, as the fire covered gundam prepared to deal the final blow of the round.

Kosetsu and Elisa rushed into each other. Their blades met. A bright star formed. Its light engulfed the entire battlefield, even shining through the plavsky particle walls into the pilot cockpit. Raizen High School's Gunpla stadium was overwhelmed by an incredible white light.

* * *

Kirami was walking away casually on the sidewalk, just outside the gates of the high school. Her concealing cloak was still on, and the silver eye patch still hid her golden eye. She stopped dead in her tracks as the light that shined in the stadium cast a dark shadow over her shoulders. She grinned to herself.

* * *

The light died down, and all that was left were two gunplas back to back. Both gunpla returned back to normal. Kosetsu's sapphire exia returned to its original shade of blue, now matt in texture after the intense battle. Elisa's Crimson Legilis was back to it's red texture, but something about it was far more red than usual. Upon further inspection, a thin red line was formed, comfortably wrapped around the waist of the Crimson Legilis. Elisa released her grip on her plavsky particle controller, which was now red in color.

"Congratulations, Kosetsu."

Kosetsu loosened her grip on her plavsky particle controller was well, which was still a yellow color.

"Thank you, Elisa."

With an enthusiastic explosion, the Crimson Legilis was reduced into powder as the Sapphire Exia stood damaged but victorious. The battle machine called out, in a tone a bit more emotional than usual

"Battle ended"

The plavsky particles of the arena and the pilot cockpits began to dematerialize, diffusing and phasing back into the central battle machine. In the center of the battle machines, the heavily damaged model of the Sapphire Exia II stood triumphantly over the broken pieces of the Crimson Legilis II. Elisa stood still as her red alerted cockpit diffused around her, and she watched on the other side as Kosetsu's yellow alerted cockpit did the same. Taijin smiled to himself gleefully as he realized what had happened. He glanced upwards towards the small audience standing on the second floor.

Grind smiled and gave the two team members a huge thumbs up. Mitsuo adjusted his glasses, covered with sweat and smiled at them. Mina jumped up and down enthusiastically like an energetic child. Yuta punched his fists together and let out a loud howl. Raul folded his arms and grunted in satisfaction of the battle he had just witnessed. Yuu simply pulled down her hoodie, revealing her eyes which were lit up with entertainment.

Kosetsu and Elisa walked around the battle machine, face to face. For a few seconds, they exchanged no words. Kosetsu simply extended her hand for a handshake, and Elisa responded with the same gesture. The two girls smiled at each other as a large LCD screen behind them lit up with the words

"Raizen High Tournament Champions: Team Carbon"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Hey guys, Nekronous here. The tournament arc is over! I hope you all enjoyed the read! Special thanks goes out to CodeEmperor07 who beta read the chapter and gave me lots of advice!

Thanks and have a nice day!


	18. School Bells

Chapter 17 - School Bells

_The first day back to school after the holidays_

The golden light of the sun found its way through a tiny crack in the blinds of Kosetsu's room, shining a single stripe of light that cut across the bed. Its neat pink sheets were gently folded over the cream haired sleeping girl, who was exhausted and sleeping after a restless night. On her desk stood the Sapphire Exia II, tall and mighty on a blue hobby cutting board. It boasted one of its GN Swords on its left hand, which had just undergone painstakingly long and tedious repairs. Its other arm was lying on the table, still rather dull and scratched from its encounter with the Crimson Legilis II. Its elbow was broken after the final strike that won her the finals, but Kosetsu knew that it was a small price to pay. It was cracked open ferociously, the joint almost beyond repair and forced into a light gray color, the same color as bent and overstrained plastic. The thin layer of flat coating that covered the unit peeled off slightly as well, being hit with so many blasts from the Crimson Legilis II. The white V fin of the Exia Gundam had stress marks, gently and subtly bending at an angle.

Yet the Sapphire Exia II stood monumentally, like a grand trophy.

The door peered open, and Taijin peeked inside the room. He sighed as he saw that Kosetsu was still fast asleep in her bed, tucked neatly into her blankets, despite the fact that school was starting in just one hour. He walked in, wearing his white school uniform that was neatly tucked in under his black belt. His hair was neatly combed and he was wearing his wristwatch, tuned to the school clock by the second. He gently tapped Kosetsu on the shoulder and whispered gently

"Wake up, it's time to go to sch-"

Kosetsu leaned up gently, only to have Taijin turn away in embarrassment, his face burning red as Kosetsu's blanket slipped downwards. He squealed

"S-SORRY! I'LL LEAVE NOW!"

In her underwear, Kosetsu rubbed her eyes as she faintly saw Taijin bolt out of her room like an energetic dog. Her cream hair was messy, with strands of hair poking about all over the place. She paid no attention to the fact that Taijin had just entered the room, and she stretched her arms. After a long, lazy stretch routine, Kosetsu glanced at the gunpla that stood on her desk. Its eyes seemed to glare off into the distance, in a hazy emerald trance. Smiling gently, she got out of bed and walked slowly towards the gunpla. She slowly took it in her hands, gently and softly, as if picking up a live animal. She tinkered around with it lightly, checking its articulation with the touch of a feather.

She heard a knock on her door, followed by Taijin's gently stuttering voice

"K…Kosetsu…?"

Kosetsu stared at the gunpla in her hand, and a soft smile began to grow on her face. She then glanced at the door, and called out in a monotone voice

"I'll be down there in a second"

She hastily grabbed a blue ringed notebook that lay on her desk and flipped it open. Inside the notebook were several beautiful gunpla designs on lined paper. Drawn with the touch of an angel, the pencil sketches were soft yet striking. A unique gunpla drawn from different angles, ranging from head designs to designs for its shield. However, the pencil lines seemed slightly rushed, as if drawn from a fading memory. Kosetsu smiled at the notebook, and then glanced at the Sapphire Exia for a brief second. She reached over for it and held it gently, as if it were a frail butterfly. She sighed at its condition, which was near perfectly repaired except that it was missing the entirety of its right hand. She gently slid it into her black wrist mounted gunpla holder, intent on bringing it to school despite its unfinished condition. She also reached over to the side of her desk and slid a black handkerchief into the gunpla holder, which gently wrapped around the shoulder of the Exia's missing arm.

* * *

Kosetsu walked towards the front door, dressed neatly in the school uniform that was mailed to her a few days earlier. Before she could reach for the doorknob, two knocks were heard on the door. Kosetsu stopped in her tracks, and glanced back at Taijin, who was walking towards the door just behind her. He sighed and called out

"Come in!"

The door was opened gently, revealing a black haired, brown eyed girl that the dorm was very familiar with. She was dressed neatly in the white and navy blue school uniform as well. Kosetsu gave the girl a confused glance

"Elisa Ayumi?"

Elisa returned the favor by giving Kosetsu a similarly confused glance

"Didn't you check your email?"

"No, I just woke up"

"I see….Well, it's the student council president's job to show around new students on their first day of school, so that's why I'm here…"

Elisa helped herself inside the dorm, calmly and casually

"Although we're a bit early, so there's time to chill for a bit"

Sensing hostile stares from all around her, Elisa gently raised her hands and made a sincere waving gesture.

"It's alright guys. We were enemies in the tournament, but now that it's over, I harbour no ill thoughts against you guys. You are all gifted and talented fighters, and the victory that you took was surely one that you deserved"

Taijin waved his hand awkwardly, dismissing Elisa's assumption

"No no, that's not it...it's just...I never knew that you were the student council president..."

Walking out of the kitchen, Mitsuo adjusted his glasses as he caught wind of the conversation

"Oh, that's right. I never told you guys. Elisa's the president of the student council. The highest ranking student in the school"

Elisa took that as her cue to let out a sincere and humble bow to the students before her. Kosetsu remained unfazed, her eyes seeming to stare off into space.

The tension slowly faded as Taijin let out an energetic sigh, not hesitant to display his awkward stance in the situation. Kosetsu shook her head at Elisa

"Shall we be on our way to school?"

Elisa nodded, gesturing subtly and elegantly for Kosetsu to follow along.

* * *

It was just two weeks ago when the epic battle for the school championships took place. And yet the two finalists were walking to school together casually, as if they had been lifelong friends.

The attack on the school's stadium was later investigated by the press. PPSE did well to hide their tracks, with the identity of the attacker completely unknown to the public. The headline of that week's newspapers were "Terrorists disrupts interschool tournament, brings firearms and threatens children". The stadium was off limits, as investigators continued to find more clues about what had really happened. The roof, which had a bullet shot through it, was being repaired hastily, and should be back to normal in a few days. The machine which was forcefully turned off was examined, and all traces of interference were completely removed. It was as if it were an untouched machine.

Nobody has seen Kirami since that day. She never appeared as a mirage in anybody's dreams, which prompted everybody to think that she was doing fine, somewhere hiding in secret.

Not for long.

* * *

Draped in a black hoodie, a mysterious silver haired boy strolled through the city aimlessly. He looked slightly pale and skinny, yet his golden eyes shone of malicious determination. Like a wolf on the hunt for prey. He stopped by a nameless hobby store, which had gunpla display pieces placed by the glass window. He closed his snake like eyes, and with extreme focus, he heard the sound of a gunpla battle occurring deep inside the hobby store. Without hesitation, he flung open the door and entered the building.

The inside of the building was neatly packed with gunpla of all sizes, colours and difficulties, yet it was none of the boy's concern. He simply walked past all of it, headed straight for the gunpla battle room. He grabbed the handle of the door to the battle room and twisted it.

"I can't believe I lost against MINA!"

Kayla's throne Zwei gundam was training in a test simulation against several computer controlled mock units. The white grunt suits were easily dispatched by Kayla's gunpla as they fought a one sided war over a remote canyon setting.

"That ridiculous looking pink impulse! Defeated MY throne Zwei!"

A string of explosions formed in front of the red gundam. The skies of the canyon were littered with bright orange blasts, and the gentle rain of white mock unit parts. The explosions died down, and the battle machine called out synthetically

"Battle ended"

The plavsky particles dissolved above the gray machine, and Kayla's gundam gently fell down onto the surface of the metal machine. Behind her, Spencer and Matt, were leaning against the wall of the battle room behind her. After the gunpla battle machine completed its deactivation, the room's ceiling lights illuminated, bringing the room to a yellow light. Kayla brushed her hair as she walked towards her two teammates.

"How unsatisfying. I really wish there was more of a challenge."

The hooded boy stood by the door, speechless and motionless. He let out a small hiss as Kayla uttered those words. He had played the game too well to know that those AI Controlled Mock units were set to the easy difficulty. The three members of Enflamed Quintet glanced at the boy, noticing his presence in the room. Spencer laughed upon seeing him, and stretched out his arm intimidatingly

"What's so scary, kiddo?"

Unfazed by Spencer's actions, the boy pulled down his hoodie, revealing his silver hair that shone like tempered steel. He glanced at the trio menacingly with his eyes of bright gold.

"Where is the god esper?"

After a brief moment of silence, the three members of Enflamed Quintet glanced at each other in confusion. They then redirected their confused glare to the boy. He was serious.

"I'm not going to ask you again. Where is the god esper?"

Kayla shrugged sarcastically.

"Gee, I don't know. If you're that desperate to know, why don't you beat it out of us in a gunpla battle?"

Spencer smiled at Kayla's statement, and cracked his knuckles.

"Yeah kiddo. If you beat us, we'll answer your questions."

Mike, the mysteriously inactive Enflamed Quintet member stepped up, joining the other two members of the team. He folded his arms confidently and gave Setsuna an intimidating glare.

"We're strong. Former Champions of Raizen High."

Kayla suddenly felt a chill rush through her body as those words left Mike's mouth. She coughed, and hid her embarrassment with a mask of confidence

"E-Even though we're former champions, we're still strong! Take us lightly and you're as good as finished!"

The boy smiled sadistically, yet subtly, as he realised that he had just received an invitation to gunpla battle.

"Let's go."

* * *

Kosetsu and Elisa arrived at school much earlier than expected. They spent their walk chatting about gunpla strategies and ideas. Despite being a shy, quiet girl normally, Kosetsu's eyes would light up in interest when the topic of gunpla battle was raised. Elisa gestured to the school gates as they arrived

"So, here we are. Although I suppose I don't have to tell you that."

Kosetsu giggled, covering her mouth with her hand softly. Elisa suddenly jolted, as if she had just remembered some important information.

"Ah, that's right! You and your team have to go and see the principal immediately! He wants a word with the champions!"

Kosetsu nodded. Elisa gently grasped her hand and began to walk towards the main building.

"I'll guide you to the reception"

* * *

Kosetsu leaned over the reception desk, with Elisa a few paces behind her. The Receptionist tilted her glasses upon seeing Kosetsu.

"Kosetsu...Yukimura was it?"

Kosetsu nodded gently.

"Ah, okay then. Please have a seat."

The receptionist gestured to some sofas by the side of the room, arranged around a coffee table with several gunpla battle magazines. Kosetsu strolled there towards objection, and the first thing she did after sitting down was reach for one of the Magazines. It was simple and plain, and yet it stood out to Kosetsu as different from any other magazine she had seen. She flicked through the pages hastily, to get a feel for what the magazine was about. She tilted her head and wore a confused expression.

Elisa gently walked towards Kosetsu, and she noticed the magazine Kosetsu was reading. She sat down next to her and gave Kosetsu some context to a magazine which she was sure she had never seen before.

"This is the school's private gunpla magazine. It's made by us students and it releases once a term. Not bad, right?"

Kosetsu stopped at a page which caught her attention. It was a double spread splash photograph of an incredibly build 1/100 MG EX-S Gundam. It was clearly not built for battle; it was painted over several layers at a time and it was completely covered in decals. It was weathered in extreme detail, little specs of brown paint in corners of the gunpla to replicate accumulating dirt. Elisa leaned over to get a peek of what Kosetsu was gazing at.

"Ah, this piece. Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Incredible...It would easily pass as a world level display piece..."

Kosetsu tilted her head at Elisa in curiosity

"Who built this?"

"It's a collaboration work between two of the city's greatest student builders. I'm sure you know one of them."

Kosetsu leaned into the page, and noticed a small black signature on the bottom right of the image. She recognised it instantly.

"Taijin...Sakamoto"

"Yeah. The other guy is Tsuko Kaiba, from Zein Academy. People call him the gunpla alchemist."

"Gunpla alchemist...?" Kosetsu mumbled, raising an eyebrow in curiosity

"Yeah. Apparently he can make any gunpla compatible, regardless of joints. It's rumoured that he was the one who helped Mina out with the Searing Impulse. Attaching the arm of a Zgok to the body of an Impulse is something that requires insane technical skill and joint modification."

Kosetsu shut the magazine as she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Turning around, she noticed a large man in a suit wearing sunglasses. He had a golden badge with his name on it, next to the school logo. He extended his hand, holding a piece of paper. It was a blank form, with the label "Member of School Team". Kosetsu reached out and gently grasped the paper. She glanced at it as the man began to speak

"The principal would like your details, Kosetsu. Please fill in the form."

Kosetsu reached for a pen on the desk and began to write.

* * *

Name: Kosetsu Yukimura

Age: 16

Birthday: 24th June

Height: 160cm

Weight: 44kg

Eye color: Blue

Hair color: Cream

Affiliation: Team Carbon

Name of Gunpla: Sapphire Exia Gundam MK II

Base Gunpla: 1/144 HG GN-001 Exia Gundam, 1/144 HG ZGMF-X42S Destiny Gundam

Weapons/ Equipment: Custom GN Sword x2, GN beam saber x4 , MX2351 "Solidus Fulgor" Beam shield generator x2, GN field, MMI-X340 "Palma Fiocina" Palm beam cannons (W.I.P)

Special Features: Trans-am system, GN Drive Burst mode (W.I.P)

* * *

Kosetsu paused, and then gently placed her pen on the desk. She turned over to the man, and she noticed that he still had one more blank form in his hand. The man noticed Kosetsu's confused expression.

"Now, you have been successfully admitted into the school database, and you shall be competing in the nationals as "Team A", and you shall be going along with another team, "Team B". Winning the tournament also means that your team gets to select the members of "Team B". One recommendation from each member will form the second team of all stars. Kosetsu Yukimura, I know that you are new to this school, but from what you have seen in the tournament, who do you think would be worthy of becoming a member of "Team B?"

Without a moment of hesitation, Kosetsu responded

"Elisa Ayumi."

Elisa let out a subtle "Eh" as she covered her mouth gently in surprise. Kosetsu tilted her head in Elisa's direction and gave her an innocent gaze.

"It's alright, isn't it?"

Elisa coughed into her hand, trying to hide her red cheeks.

"Of course. Thank you for your recommendation."

The man walked towards Elisa and handed him the same form he handed Kosetsu. Walking towards the coffee table, Elisa sat down, reaching for Kosetsu's pen. She scratched her head, and with a second of hesitation, began to write.

* * *

Name: Elisa Ayumi

Age: 16

Birthday: 3rd May

Height: 165cm

Weight: 48kg

Eye color: Brown

Hair color: Black

Affiliation: Team Enflamed Quintet

Name of Gunpla: Crimson Legilis MK II

Base Gunpla: 1/144 HG XVM-FZC Legilis Gundam

Weapons/ Equipment: Beam Buster, Beam Vulcans (x2), Beam Sabers (x2), Legilis Tail Cannon, Legilis Rifle (modified), Custom Legilis Shield, Custom Legilis Beam Bits

Special Features: Crimson Burst System (original system)

Original System Explanation: The Crimson Burst System is a custom system created by Elisa Ayumi specifically for her Crimson Legilis. It is a particle release system that temporarily increases all output by 300%. The armor temporarily glows blue, and resistance to beam attacks are enhanced by 40%. The system lasts for approximately 4 minutes. After the time limit is over, the Legilis will return back to normal with a maximum functioning output of 60%. The Crimson Burst system cannot be used in conjunction with the Legilis Bit control system and therefore all Legilis Bits must be destroyed before the Crimson Burst System can be activated.

* * *

Elisa placed down her pen and handed the form to the man, who took it promptly before leaving the reception. Mere moments after, the receptionist received a phone call. She picked it up, and after a brief moment of inaction, muttered "understood". She placed down the phone and turned to Kosetsu and Elisa.

"The principal is ready to meet you, Kosetsu."

* * *

Class had begun, and Kosetsu and Elisa had yet to return. Taijin sat by the window, gazing at the clouds. He paid little attention to gunpla building class; he was undeniably already a better builder than the subject teacher himself. Thankfully, his boredom was just about to be broken.

A knock on the classroom door. The teacher, who was a middle aged man in a vest, called out softly

"Come in!"

The same suited man walked into the classroom, holding a blank form which looked similar to those which were given to Kosetsu earlier. He glanced at Taijin, and approached him assertively. The man slid the piece of paper on Taijin's desk and spoke quietly

"Fill in this form as soon as possible. This is a special form for operators. I've added extra spaces for your machines."

Taijin sighed, reached into his pencil case and pulled out a pencil. He spun it around before placing it on the form decisively.

* * *

Name: Taijin Sakamoto

Age: 16

Birthday: 11th October

Height: 173cm

Weight: 56kg

Eye color: Brown

Hair color: Brown

Affiliation: Team Carbon

Name of Gunpla: Flight booster

Base Gunpla: N/A

Weapons/ Equipment: Gunpla Docking

Special Features: Speed Increase by 160%, Energy capacity increase by 80%, Overclock system (original system) , Custom variable output energy field

Name of Gunpla: Gauntlet Booster

Base Gunpla: N/A

Weapons/ Equipment: Gunpla Docking, Twin Gauntlets

Special Features: Energy capacity increase by 80%, Overclock system (original system), Custom variable output energy field

Name of Gunpla: Shield booster

Base Gunpla: N/A

Weapons/ Equipment: Gunpla Docking, Shield bits x 6

Special Features: Energy capacity increase by 80%, Overclock system (original system) , Custom variable output energy field

Name of Gunpla: Blast booster

Base Gunpla: 1/144 HG GX-9901-DX Gundam Double X

Weapons/ Equipment: Gunpla Docking, Custom Twin Satellite Cannons

Special Features: Energy capacity increase by 80%, Overclock system (original system) , Custom variable output energy field

Original System Explanation (Overclock system) : The overclock system is a custom system created by Taijin Sakamoto where the core reactor of the booster goes over the recommended safety limit, resulting in energy being produced faster than it can be replenished. As a result, the speed and power output of the gunpla go through an increase of 300%. White steam also rises from the surface of the gunpla's body. The surface of the gunpla becomes superheated. However, the system only lasts for around 5 minutes before shutting down. Also, although the gunpla's surface becomes superheated, it also becomes extremely fragile. Upon the shutdown of the overclock system, overall output of the gunpla is reduced to a maximum output of 30%, making the gunpla extremely weak after the expiration of the overclock system. The overclock system can be turned on and off at will during activation with little repercussion, as long as the system is not 1 minute away from timing out. The overclock system can stack with other systems such as the trans-am system or the exam system.

* * *

As Taijin was completing his form, the man walked to the back of the classroom, where a sleeping red headed girl lay on her desk. He leaned over her and tapped her shoulder gently.

"Mina. I have to ask a favor of you."

Mina twitched at the unexpected interruption to her nap, and glanced up at the man with a confused stare. He placed the empty form on Mina's desk, gesturing for her to fill it out.

"Please complete this form."

Reaching for a pen on her desk, Mina stumbled on her seat as she momentarily lost balance. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and began to write.

* * *

Name: Mina Takahashi

Age: 17

Birthday: 14th April

Height: 155cm

Weight: 48kg

Eye color: Red

Hair color: Red

Affiliation: Team Carbon

Name of Gunpla: Searing Impulse Gundam Plan "C"

Base Gunpla: 1/144 HG ZGMF-X56S Impulse Gundam, 1/144 HG MSM-07 Z'Gok, 1/144 HG GN-007 Arios Gundam

Weapons/ Equipment: Custom GN Submachine gun x2 , Custom High energy output beam saber x2, "Iron nail" claw x2 , MMI-GAU25A 20mm CIWS, M71-AAK "Folding Razor" Anti-armor Knife x2, Custom variable output beam rifle

Special Features: Variable Phase Shift Armor

* * *

Mina handed her completed form to the man, who grasped it gently. He then leaned towards her and gently whispered

"Here's another empty form, for your recommended member for the team's second team. Who do you think would be a great addition to our second team?"

Gazing out of the window for a second, Mina let her mind wander. She had fought several strong opponents, but one opponent struck her as both powerful and determined. She leaned over to the man and responded with a whisper.

"Yuu. Yuu Masato"

The man nodded, and he walked towards the exit. As he walked past the desks, Taijin tugged at his sleeve. He stopped and turned to listen to what Taijin had to say.

"Don't I get to recommend someone too?"

"Sorry, but the principal has already arranged a player to work with the second team. He's going to be a transfer student joining us in a few months"

Taijin sighed and nodded his head.

"Thank you."

He handed the man his completed form, easily twice as long as the other forms. The man grasped it gently and placed it on top of Mina's form before leaving the classroom quietly.

* * *

The principal's room was not particularly massive or impressive. It was small, cosy and modest. The walls were lined with neat shelves of books, and it even had a small display of gunpla. Most strikingly, on the principal's desk was an SD Musha Gundam enclosed in a glass case, with a golden label that identified it as "Raizen Musha Gundam - By Raizen High's Principal; Sanshiro Jugo"

Mr Sanshiro was waiting patiently for Kosetsu and Elisa to arrive to his room, and as he waited, he was reading the school issue magazine. He paid special interest in the collaboration works of Taijin and Tsuko in the form of the 1/100 MG EX-S Gundam, inspecting every single detail of the gunpla.

"Flawless..." Sanshiro marvelled at the work made by his students. He smiled to himself sincerely as he stroked the page of the magazine.

Two knocks were heard on the principal office's door. Sanshiro leaned forward on his chair and called out

"Come in"

To his disappointment, it was not Kosetsu and Elisa, but instead another suited man carrying two completed forms with him. Without a word, he stretched out his hand and placed the form on the desk. Sanshiro reached for the two completed forms and scratched his chin as he began to read it thoroughly as the suited man spoke

"Grind recommended Raul Machado of Team Quiver and Mitsuo recommended Yuta Kitano from Team Sober Dance"

Sanshiro smiled as the words reached his ear. He gestured for the man to find the two recommendations as he continued to read the player profiles.

* * *

Name: Grind Coleslaw

Age: 16

Birthday: 2nd December

Height: 175cm

Weight: 70kg

Eye color: Brown

Hair color: Black

Affiliation: Team Carbon

Name of Gunpla: Void Striker Gundam

Base Gunpla: 1/144 HG GAT-X105E+AQM/E-X09S Strike Noir Gundam

Weapons/ Equipment: MAU-M3E42 Twin linear gun x2, 9.1m Anti-Ship Sword x2, "Igelstellung" 75mm Multi-barrel CIWS, Custom Variable output beam rifle, Armor Schneider x 2

Special Features: Variable Phase Shift Armor

* * *

Name: Mitsuo Kimura

Age: 16

Birthday: 11th December

Height: 168cm

Weight: 66kg

Eye color: Brown

Hair color: Maroon

Affiliation: Team Carbon

Name of Gunpla: Fang Armored Gelgoog

Base Gunpla: 1/144 HG MS-14 Gelgoog, 1/144 HG GNW-20000 Arche Gundam

Weapons/ Equipment: Custom Variable output beam rifle, GN Fang Container x2 , GN Fang x 6 , Beam Naginata x2

Special Features: N/A

* * *

Placing the completed forms on the desk in a neat pile, Sanshiro patiently awaited his two expected guests. There were two knocks on the door to the office, lighting a smile on Mr Sanshiro's face. He called out from behind his desk

"Come in!"

The door was gently swept open as Elisa turned the doorknob, with Kosetsu following her. Sashiro stood up from his principal's seat and gestured for his two guests to sit in the two chairs in front of him.

"Please, do have a seat."

Kosetsu closed the door behind her, and the two girls sat down without hesitation. Sanshiro took his seat as well and leaned on his elbow casually in front of the two students. He nodded at Kosetsu.

"Good morning, Kosetsu. My name is Sanshiro Jugo, although in this school I go formally as Mr Sanshiro. Nice to meet you."

Kosetsu gave the school principal an innocent, confused look.

"N...Nice to meet you too..."

"So, this is your first day in school?"

"Y-Yes..."

"Even before the first day of school you've made quite a name for yourself...you're practically a celebrity already. Congratulations on your tournament victory, Kosetsu."

Kosetsu felt a tear of sweat crawl down her forehead as her responses slowly became more nervous.

"T-Thank you"

Mr Sanshiro felt the tension building in Kosetsu, and he sighed awkwardly. He flashed a smile at Kosetsu before he continued talking

"I can't believe it. Without any prior knowledge, you defeated the school's prized aces. Yuta, Raul, Yuu. Elisa, even you?"

Elisa nodded humbly, with her hands on her lap formally.

"She was an incredible opponent. I regret that there was barely any audience to bear witness to our battle."

Mr Sanshiro rubbed his chin as he quickly dragged the conversation along.

"That was right what I was getting to. The police hasn't found anything in particular, and nor have any detectives. Our security cameras have picked up some men in suits walking in and out, but other than that what happened in the stadium that moment is a mystery to everyone. Everybody but those who were there. Which is why I am asking you two. What happened over there?"

Kosetsu opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by Elisa

"It's quite hazy to me as well. All that I recall is ..."

* * *

"Battle ended"

The plavsky particles faded on the battle machine as the three members of Enflamed Quintet were on their knees, completely helpless. The silver haired boy stood triumphantly with his back to the defeated students.

_"...There were people who entered the building. They knew what they wanted..."_

The silver haired boy turned around to peek at what was left of the battle. On the other side of the battle machine were three small piles of powdered plastic. Kayla wept out desperately

"What the heck are you?!"

_"...But they had to leave before they could get it..."_

A silhouette of a mobile suit stood on the battle machine, completely untouched and unscratched. Even though the plavsky particles completed their dematerialisation, its eyes still seemed to glow with an ethereal crimson light. The silver haired boy took a few steps towards the members of Enflamed Quintet, who were mourning for the losses of their gunpla.

"I'm not going to ask you again."

_"...Knowing them though, they aren't going to stop there. They will go to any lengths to get what they want. They won't stop until they've answered their longing question..."_

"Where is the God Esper?!"

* * *

**Author's Note**

Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of the story. I can't believe it 's been more than a year since this story first started. I want to take a moment to thank all of my followers for sticking with me :3 Special thanks to Code Emperor07 who also beta-read the chapter

I want to take a second to give a shout out to Paro-D's story "**GBF: Zeliel's Hobby Shop and Toy Merchandises"**. Zeliel might be getting some visitors in the near future ;)

Have a nice day!


	19. School Bells (Part 2)

**Chapter 18 – School Bells (part 2)**

_8:49 - First lessons underway_

Lessons were well underway in Raizen high school. Taijin was slacking off in his gunpla building class; the teacher was going over sanding techniques, something which Taijin had long perfected. Mina was also daydreaming in the gunpla building class – she was well aware that if she needed help with anything, she could just ask Taijin. Somewhere in another area of the school, Grind was closely paying attention to gunpla strategy class, along with Mitsuo who was diligently taking notes. In the principal's office, Kosetsu and Elisa were sitting nervously in front of the school principal, Mr Sanshiro. Mr Sanshiro glanced at his office's wall clock, only to notice that it was fast approaching 9:00AM. He coughed as he realised he had to speed up the pace of the meeting. He smiled at the two girls sitting in front of him.

"Well, Kosetsu. Since you're a new student here at this school, you have to go to an assigned battle room at 9:00 for a preliminary test. It will show us just how good your piloting skills are."

Kosetsu gave the head principal a confused look, only to have the old man respond with a similar one.

"I understand that you're the champion of the school's annual tournament but this is a procedure that all students have to go through."

"But…my gunpla's repairs aren't finished quite yet…"

Kosetsu glanced down at her black gunpla holder box, with her make-shift one armed Exia gundam. Mr Sanshiro noticed her expression.

"Don't worry. The first test is only for fighter performance and not gunpla performance. Therefore you'll be given a default HG 1/144 RX-78 Gunpla to do the test with. There will be a test for your gunpla, but that won't be in a few weeks so you have time to build or repair your gunpla."

After a short sigh, Kosetsu nodded her head gently. Mr Sanshiro clasped his hands together.

"Good. So, now that you're in the school, do you have any questions?"

"Actually, I do. When I arrived here, I was approached to add a recommendation for team B. So how is it that one school is able to send in 2 teams to the nationals?"

"Ah, that's one question we get a lot. You see, this is Raizen High Art School. But there is another school under the same branch; Raizen High Science school. The science school refuses to participate in the nationals, and we've negotiated with the tournament organisers to allow us two teams into the nationals since both schools are under the same name."

Kosetsu nodded once more.

"That's the only question I have for the time being."

Mr Sanshiro clasped his hands once again and stood up from his principal's desk.

"So now, let's head off to the battle room shall we?"

Elisa raised her hand gently.

"May I come along and spectate?"

The principal smiled at Elisa wholeheartedly

"Well there's no point in you attending gunpla strategy lessons, right? Come along!"

* * *

_8:56 - New students statistical analysis test_

The battle room was set up with several individual machines meant for a single pilot to use. To the side of the room there was a shelf completely stocked with just one type gunpla, the RX-78. There were a few transfer students already undergoing the test with their RX-78 Gundam, but none of them stood out as particularly talented. Mr Sanshiro gestured towards the machines, and explained to Kosetsu how it worked.

"How it works is that we measure 4 things in order to determine your set. Your remaining particle storage, how many units you destroy, your firing accuracy and the damage dealt to the gunpla. Depending on your score, you may be placed in a higher or a lower set."

Kosetsu walked towards the shelf with the stock gunpla and reached for one of them. She inspected it closely. Although the model was built diligently, there were several imperfections that distracted Kosetsu from appreciating the actual model. Several nub marks, as well as scratches and dents all over the gunpla. It was obvious that this gunpla had been on the battlefield before – and it was not treated kindly by its previous pilot. Kosetsu turned to the principal

"Sir, who built these gunplas?"

Mr Sanshiro quickly picked up Kosetsu's tone of disappointment.

"The gunpla building teacher, Mrs Kim. She was asked to build 200 identical HGUC 1/144 RX-78-2's. So please forgive the slight dip in quality…"

Kosetsu walked towards a battle machine and pulled out her GP base. She glanced at Elisa and Mr Sanshiro with an emotionless gaze.

"I'm going to begin."

The principal and Elisa both nodded in unison, with both of their eyes shining in anticipation. The battle machine called out in its distinct monotone voice.

"Please set your GP base"

Kosetsu set her rectangular device as instructed, and as it clicked into its appropriate rectangular slot, it lighted up with pilot data. However, instead of the Sapphire Exia's name appearing for the gunpla, it was automatically changed to "test gunpla". The metal arena began to flood with Plavsky particles that displayed the pitch black battlefield of space.

"Please set your gunpla"

* * *

_9:00 - Gunpla building class_

Taijin was performing some leisurely pen spins – he had finished the 60 minute task of sanding 30 pieces to perfection in only 20 minutes. He looked around at everybody still sanding away, with the sound of rough paper sliding against edgy plastic filling the room. Seeing that he had time to waste, he reached into his backpack and pulled out a ringed, blue notebook. He flicked around and landed on a certain page that was filled with pencil sketches. Sharp shoulder armour, bulky beam cannons and Enhanced beam sabers. Without a doubt, on that notebook was a sketch for Taijin's own custom gunpla. He began to make some sketches of the gunpla's weaponry on a fresh page, quietly murmuring to himself

"…In terms of weapons, I was thinking I could combine the idea of the gauntlet booster's armoured fists with the arios' arm built machine gun? No, that's a waste of potential. I could build a custom fist oriented shotgun weapon since the enhanced elbow joint would be able to handle the recoil…"

He then flicked to a blank page and began sketching ideas of gauntlets of different shapes and sizes, ranging from spiked golden bracelets to flat brown gloves. He finished 5 satisfactory sketches before glancing at the clock, to notice that he had a staggering 20 mins of free time. He sighed, and he raised his hand.

"Mr Danforth, I'm done. May I go to the gunpla workshop to test out some gunpla weapons?"

The teacher nodded.

"No need to worry. I saw you finish early. Go on, best of luck.

* * *

_9:23 - Gunpla workshop_

Taijin entered the gunpla workshop. It had three distinct parts to it, a desk for building gunpla straight from the box, a materials area with machinery and materials and a technology area that was more for building customised weapons. Taijin seated himself in the technology area, in front of a high tech modernised PC. He turned it on, entered his student ID information and began to model the gauntlet weapons of his new gunpla on a modelling program. The rapid clicking of his mouse and its swift shifting across the mousepad was hypnotising; there was not a single motion that was unnecessary. Within a matter of 10 minutes, a prototype weapon was built.

Inserting the necessary material into the plastic melding machine, Taijin prepared to get his prototype weapon created. It was going to take a few hours at the least for the entire process to get done, so Taijin figured he was better off going into the battle test room to have a glance at how Kosetsu was doing in her entrance test.

* * *

_9:35 - Battle room_

"Battle ended"

The principal glanced at the test results on his tablet machine. It displayed the main statistics of Kosetsu's performance after a 10 minute constant wave of Zaku after Zaku, with the last minute being dedicated to a wave of 40 Zakus.

Damage dealt to gunpla - 4%

Units destroyed - 86

Shot accuracy – 83%

Remaining particles – 84%

Grade – S+

Mr Sanshiro nodded to himself in satisfaction as he glanced at Kosetsu's main statistics.

"Excellent. An S+ ranking… that easily puts you in the top 5 in the current school. Heck, with these kind of statistics you'd place in the top 10 Raizen high of all time."

Elisa peered over Mr Sanshiro's shoulders to get a better view of the battle report. She nodded in acknowledgement of Kosetsu's strength.

"Your shot accuracy is 4% higher than mine, and the damage dealt to the gunpla was 2% less. A small difference, yeah, but a difference nonetheless. Good job!"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Taijin peered over Mr Sanshiro's other shoulder and gasped in astonishment

"Whoah, you're quite something with an S+ rank like that!"

The three seemed to be startled by Taijin's sudden appearance out of nowhere, almost jumping out of surprise. Mr Sanshiro quickly regained composure and gestured to Kosetsu

"Without a doubt, with a performance like that you'd place well in the higher sets. You'll be working with aces like Elisa here, and of course the rest of your team."

Kosetsu gave Mr Sanshiro a blank stare as she asked

"What about Taijin?"

Mr Sanshiro awkwardly coughed

"Well the last time Mr Sakamoto took the test here, he collapsed before he could even place down the gunpla. We never really got a record for him so he was placed in the lower sets that were more focused around theory-"

"Taijin can take it now, right?"

"Pardon?"

"The test. Taijin can take it now, right?"

Slightly taken aback by Kosetsu's comment, Mr Sanshiro nodded hesitantly. Kosetsu placed the gunpla in Taijin's hand and gestured for him to take the test.

* * *

10:12 Battle room

"Battle ended"

The plavsky particles deformed from the school's standard battle machine, leaving the RX-78-2 model to collapse on the glassy surface with a clink. Taijin turned around to Kosetsu, Elisa and Mr Sanshiro and shot them both an energetic smile.

Damage dealt to gunpla -21%

Units destroyed - 58

Shot accuracy – 71%

Remaining particles – 67%

Grade – A-

Mr Sanshiro nodded approvingly at Taijin's statistics.

"I've heard a bit about you from the other teachers, and how poorly you handled the battle machines. If I didn't know better I'd call them all liars after watching such a dazzling performance. Well done, Taijin."

Elisa smiled at Taijin and gave him a subtle thumbs up.

"These statistics are on par if not better than the current members of Enflamed Quintet."

Mr Sanshiro scoffed sarcastically

"Except for you."

Elisa brushed off her brown hair modestly

"I was just trying to be humble, sir."

Turning back to Taijin, Elisa commented

"But in all honesty, A- is Kayla's and Matt's rank. Spencer's ranked B+. I'm not being modest or anything when I say that your skills are certainly not something to be underestimated. Not to mention your national-class building skills…"

Kosetsu folded her arms and smiled to herself gently.

"Does this mean he can join me and the rest of the team in the higher sets?"

The principal walked up to Taijin and gave him a pat on the back.

"With this kind of score and the title of current school champion team member, it's more than possible. I'll certainly have it arranged."

* * *

_12:35 - Lunchtime_

"I send my freedom gundam unit to attack your leopard gundam unit!"

The crew were hanging around a large table with a board game setup in the center. There were small gundam figurines on the map, and cards in the hands of the players : Mina , Grind , Yuta and Taijin. Mina reached over to her freedom gundam figurine and began moving it slowly towards Grind's Leopard's figurine. Mina declared threateningly

"And since the Freedom Gundam has the equip cards 'Archangel' and 'Pilot Kira Yamato', its repair phase is halved and attack power tripled! If this keeps up I'll be taking your country in just a few turns! Mwuahahah!"

Grind scoffed as he pulled out a card from his hand, placing it onto the table confidently

"Not so fast! I activate my trap card! Secret Operations!"

Mina gasped as Grind began to explain the effects of his activated card

"When 'Secret operations' is triggered, I get to end the repair phases for up to 3 of my units in return for a doubled duration repair phase upon their next battle! I select my repair stated 00 Gundam and repair stated Duel Gundam!"

Mina let out a sarcastic laugh

"Hahah! That's still not enough! My freedom gundam still has more power with the archangel and Kira Yamato cards equipped! Your defences are NOTHING compared to pilot JESUS YAMATO!"

Grind pulled out a second card from his hand and laid it on the field, with a massive smile on his face.

"That's where this comes in. I activate the card 'Blurry focuses! For one turn only, I can target an enemy equip card with the label 'Pilot' on it, and negate its effects! This means that your Freedom gundam loses a lot of its attack power bonus, and it will be destroyed when it enters battle with my two gundams!"

Mina yelped in fear as Grind flicked her freedom gundam figure out of the board, letting it tumble onto the wood of the table. Grind then gestured to Taijin.

"Your turn, Taijin."

Yuta shrugged

"Taijin, you're in a pretty tough spot. Unless if you turn things around for a comeback this turn you're probably going to get destroyed. And your country ravaged. Oh, and, did I mention, you'd be the first player to lose."

Taijin looked at his unfamiliar cards in confusion. He glanced at Kosetsu across the room, making a silent call for help. Kosetsu acknowledged his need for help, and walked over to him from across the room. She slid her hands behind the back of his cards and spread them out for her to see. Taijin had the cards 'Raiding operation', 'Sabotage' , 'Emergency Engineering', 'Betrayal through Bribery' , and 'Pilot: Char Aznable'. His only unit was a Gundam Throne Zwei that was in repair phase for 3 turns after defending a hefty attack from Yuta. She gestured for Taijin to move out of his seat and let her take control. Kosetsu reached for one of the cards and placed it face up on the playing field.

"First I play the card 'Raiding Operation', which can only be used when I have 5 or more cards in my hand. This card allows me to select 2 cards used by any player in the last turn and use them for myself. I select Grind's 'Secret Operations' card, ending the repair phase of my Gundam Throne Zwei and allowing me to deploy it immediately. I also select Mina's Archangel equip card, but I won't use its effect right now. I'll add it to my hand."

She placed the used 'Raiding Operations" card to the side and reached out for Taijin's Gundam Throne Zwei figure, placing it on the field. Grind raised an eyebrow

"Wait, you placed the Throne Zwei right in front of my territory... Could it be…"

Kosetsu, too focused on her hand of cards to even glance at Grind, responded emotionlessly

"Yeah. I'm planning to invade your capital."

Grind laughed mockingly in objection to Kosetsu's strategy

"That's absurd! You've just got 1 unit! And even though my Duel Gundam and 00 Gundam have to enter an extended repair phase, since you're declaring a direct attack to my capital, I'm allowed to deploy them with their attack and defence power halved! That's still far more than your 1 unit can handle!"

"Not if this card can help it."

Kosetsu slid Taijin's 'Sabotage' card onto the table. Kosetsu explained the effect of the card in her usual stale voice.

"I'll roll a dice. If I get a 2 or lower, I get to destroy your 00 Gundam and Duel gundam right in the hangar, ending its repair phase and removing it from the game."

Grind interjected

"But! If you roll a 3 or higher, your turn ends immediately with nothing happening. If that happens, you'll be sure to lose soon with just 1 unit left in the game. Not to mention the chances of you even rolling a 2 or lower is just 1/3. Is that really a gamble you wanna take?"

Kosetsu smiled to herself sinisterly as she extended her hand to reject the dice offered to her by Yuta.

"No. That's why I activate this card here: 'Betrayal through Bribery'. By discarding 1 fleet equip card from my hand, when a card asks me to roll a dice, I am instead allowed to select the number the dice will roll on. The card that I choose to discard is Mina's 'Archangel' equip card that I gained from Raiding Operations earlier this turn. Now, I select the number 1, triggering the effects of 'Sabotage' and destroying the units in your repair phase."

Kosetsu placed 'Betrayal through Bribery' and 'Archangel' on the side of the table, and gently removed Grind's units off the playing field. Grind clicked his tounge as he pointed to the Throne Zwei figurine approaching his country.

"Not so fast! Every capital city can endure two hits! Even if it's defenceless, your Throne Zwei can't defeat me in 1 turn! Even though I'm defenceless right now, your unit can't finish the job! He'll have to return to the repair phase, prolonged by the effects of 'Secret Operation'! Come my turn and I'll be sure to finish you! I'll just have to call back my Zeta gundam and Gundam Age 3 from Yuta's territory and use them to destroy you!"

Kosetsu flipped around yet another card from her hand, the 'Pilot: Char Aznable 'card.

"Not if Char can help it. If he's equipped to a unit, he gives a hefty double damage bonus. But that's not all. If the unit I equip this to is red in color, I'm allowed to attack you twice in one turn!. This is more than enough to take you down!"

Grind threw his hands in the air as he realised he had no options left to defend against Kosetsu's strategy.

"My capital city!"

He stood up and pointed at Kosetsu fiercely

"But right now your only unit, the Zwei, has to enter its repair phase! I'll send over my units to give your capital city the same treatment you gave mine!"

"That's what you think. But I play the last card in my hand, Emergency Engineering. Until my next turn, if someone decides to attack my capital, I can choose to deploy the Throne Zwei into battle without the halved attack and defense penalty. This effect only works when I have only 1 unit in my repair phase, but I've got 1 unit left anyway."

Kosetsu sat up from Taijin's seat and gave the gang an innocent smile.

"I happen to to be quite good at the Gundam Forces board game. Almost as good as I am with gunpla battling."

* * *

_13:30 - Free Period_

Grind, Mitsuo, Mina and Taijin were huddled around an isolated table in the library. Taijin had papers on the table, full of weapon and gunpla sketches. He pointed at each and every one of them, explaining them in excruciating detail.

"This one here looks like a plain old beam saber but the hilt is slightly different. That's because that I plan to install a rotating mechanism that expands and contracts the base of the beam saber. In other words, this saber should be able to thicken and thin down in a moment's notice. Furthermore, the hilt is specifically crafted with anti-beam coating, which allows for a stronger beam power that would normally melt down the hilt of a normal beam saber."

The members of Team carbon nodded their heads in sync as Taijin continued with his detailed explanations.

"This here is a rifle customised for sniping long distances. It's got a scope that allows for incredibly precise aim. If the theory is as good as it sounds, it should be accurate enough to snipe down specific parts of joints that seem weak, over sanded or poorly repaired.

Taijin shuffled around some sheets and pulled out a fresh sketch. It was the one that he created and designed during his sanding class when he had extra time. The other members raised their eyebrows as this newer sketch was brought out; they could tell that it was different from the others.

"This is a relatively new one, and one that I'm already crafting a prototype for right now. These are twin gauntlets which lock onto the arms of a gunpla. Once locked on, they have several functions. You would think that I would attach the Arios' beam machine guns attached to it for long ranged approaches or the legend gundam's beam shield for defense or something. But I'm taking this weapon down a different approach."

Taijin slid his hand to a certain area on the drawing, an area that showed off two large barrels attached to the side of one of the gauntlets, with the other gauntlet covered in shotgun barrel openings

"Even though they're called twin gauntlets they aren't exactly the same. This one here with the two large barrels attached to it is named Cinis. It's not a barrel for a beam saber or a gun, but instead for a flamethrower. The other one with the barrels all around the wrist area is called Nix. It's a shotgun gauntlet that fires off customised shells. Heat, Ice, Heavy, Light, you name it. Customised ammunition would help with that."

Grind rubbed his chin as he analysed Taijin's drawings

"But what kind of gunpla would this be attached to? Your own custom?"

Taijin smiled and winked to the team

"That's top secret."

Mina wailed loudly, attracting turning heads in the library

"That's no fair! You can't keep secrets! No! No! Nooooo!"

Mitsuo adjusted his glasses in slight humiliation as he noticed the turning heads from all around the library

"So, what's the occasion? Surely you aren't making all these sketches and prototypes just on a whim?"

Taijin nodded.

"You guys must have been approached too right? The Nationals are coming up. We were asked to form a Team B, but we're automatically Team A, right? It's still in a few months but we've still got to make appropriate preparations, right?"

After his brief speech, Taijin glanced at his watch, which showed that time was already 1:35. He smiled at the group and began to pack all his sketches into his backpack.

"The prototype is probably done. I'll be heading off now."

Mitsuo looked at his teammates in anticipation before nodding his head.

"Best of luck. We won't intrude with your weapon construction."

Taijin slung his backpack over his shoulder and began to dart out of the library. His team members watched eagerly from their table In the library.

"Isn't it weird? Just a few months ago he would lock himself in his room all away from gunpla. Now he's enjoying gunpla battle as if he's always been a fan."

Mitsuo tilted his glasses, the reflection of the celling lights hiding the happiness in his eyes.

"Cinis and Nix. Twin gauntlets…? I think they're more than Taijin makes them out to be."

Mina shrugged as she pulled out a blank notebook and her pencilcase

"Yepty-doo! But for now, instead of dilly dalling about Taijin's work, let's get cracking on our own gunpla upgrades!"

The group nodded in unison, and then began to work with a humbly unbreakable focus.

* * *

Taijin began to cut out his custom made parts that were made into gunpla gates. He sanded each and every part down to perfection, and made a quick, clean assembly. No paint, no decals. Within a matter of minutes he assembled his two gauntlets that were fresh out of the molding machine. He held them in his hands and gave them a look of admiration. These two gauntlets were just a few drawings a few hours ago, yet he felt so incredibly attached to them. It was as if they were a part of him, a part of his being as a gunpla builder…and fighter.

He pulled out a small, clear container box from his backpack and gently placed the two gauntlets inside. He then zipped his bag and was about to head out to the battle room to test them, until he heard a gentle knock on the door. He stopped in his tracks, waiting for the door to swing open. After a few seconds the door remained still. Taijin called out

"Come in…"

There was still nothing. He closed his eyes and listened closely for noises outside the door. He somehow made out quiet murmurs from unfamiliar voices. One low pitched adult masculine voice and a far quieter young female voice that shivered in the air.

"No, not in here, your highness…"

"But…I sense…something…..I…"

"We should head to Cindy's first. We can pay a visit here later. Come on, let's go…"

"….O….Okay…"

After some fading footsteps, Taijin was convinced that whoever knocked on the door must have left. He shrugged, and continued heading to the battle room to test out his new weapons.

* * *

_5:00 After School – Cindy's house_

Cindy and Kosetsu were sat around a table in the guest room anxiously, with still cups of tea placed in front of them. In front of Kosetsu was a blue ringed notebook, open with gunpla designs drawn all over the pages. Kosetsu's one armed Sapphire Exia stood on the table as well, like a motionless trophy.

"I see. Well the gunpla depicted in your notebook there will certainly be powerful like no other gunpla you've built in the past. If I'm not mistaken, a lot of the Sapphire Exia wasn't even built by you?"

Kosetsu nodded gently.

"A lot of the parts were originally built by Taijin. I just made an assembly to prove the point that he's not as useless as he thinks."

"I see. So this gunpla that you're planning to build…It's going to be a true showcase of your skills not only as a fighter, but as a builder too…"

Cindy giggled quietly

"You're quite something, aren't you? Using a gunpla built by someone else so fluently, so elegantly, that you can even take on the strongest fighter in your school…"

Kosetsu took a sip from her cup of tea.

"You give me too much credit. Taijin did make the parts, all I did was touch up the final assembly. Not to mention that I wouldn't have won without Taijin's flight booster."

Cindy opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by knocking on her door. Cindy made a gesture with her hand, cueing the butler by her side to rush to the door. The doors slowly swung open, revealing two people waiting on the other side. One was a tall butler, clad in a clean suit and mirrored sunglasses. The other person was far shorter, and seemed to be no more than a 12 year old girl. She was petit and clad in green robes, complimenting her long, rose red hair. Most distinctly, she had white bandages that wrapped all around her eyes. She whispered

"I…feel it."

Kosetsu stood up from her seat immediately. She felt an aura resonating from the girl which she could not quite comprehend. It was familiar and warm, like the soft grasp of a dog's paw. It wrapped around Kosetsu welcomingly and tenderly, enveloping Kosetsu in a cosy, invisible grip.

The little girl reached out her hand in Kosetsu's direction

"…cold…chilly…like the hands of a hollow metal suit of armour…no…more like…like the gaze of an undefeated champion from the top of the world…"

Cindy stood up, realising that there was something that she was not feeling in the air. She glanced at the two. Kosetsu's sapphire eyes seemed to glow with an ethereal light that seemed to softly illuminate the room as the sun began to set. Kosetsu could tell that even though her eyes were clad in white bandages, the little girl was looking right into her soul. Cindy bowed to her two guests

"Welcome to my mansion. Thanks for coming."

Cindy gestured to Kosetsu in a soft, princess like manner

"This is Kosetsu Yukimura. A student in Raizen High Art School and champion of its latest interschool tournament. She's a pilot esper"

Cindy then gestured to the little young girl, who still had yet to break her gaze with Kosetsu.

"Kosetsu, this is 12 year old Ming Nuan from the East. Although you may know her as her more common nickname…"

Ming Nuan began to walk towards Cindy, and as her green robe was swayed by the wind, Kosetsu noticed the oh-so familiar black gunpla holder on her waist.

"The legendary blind pilot esper."

* * *

**A.N**

Yo. Wow it's been a while.

I'm sorry that this chapter took a while but life has been busy and, well, yeah. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter! I'm now moving onto the next story arc, so there'll be alot more of the good stuff :)

Thanks for reading!


	20. Lessons of a builder

**Chapter 19 – Lessons of a builder **

Taijin's walk home was an incredibly eventful one.

He walked with his shoulders high and his back straight, carefully caressing the clear plastic box that held his two gauntlets in his hands. He would look down and smile proudly, on every walking red light. It was as if he were carrying a glass baby. He planned to rush home, put the gauntlets somewhere safe and then continue with his custom that he had planned weeks in advance. He knew that with this prototype, it was going to be a gunpla to remember.

About halfway to the dorm, a drop of water fell from nowhere firmly onto Taijin's nose. He recoiled, and instinctively put his arms over his box. He gave the sky a nasty glance. It was a deceptively blue sky with no indication of rain whatsoever. The dorm of C1 was still about forty minutes away, and right as that thought crossed his mind, he felt another drop of water on his shoulder. He whispered an innocent curse to the clouds as he darted down the sidewalk at full speed, careful not to damage the parts inside the box. He thought to himself about how annoying it would be to clear up wet gunpla parts. They added unnecessary weight, tainted the paint job and needed at least 2 days of drying up before it could be used again. That was not time he was willing to waste. He had a mental schedule to uphold and nowhere in the schedule allowed for "drying time"

He darted right across a large park that acted as a shortcut between the school and the dorm. Normally he would walk around the park. There would always be some teenage couple too touchy for their own good, or some middle aged man passed out on the grass reeking of alcohol, or some condescending housewives talking on a bench with their fancy tea in their teapots giggling occasionally and passing malicious looks to those who passed them. It was less of a case of if a nuisance would show up, but instead more of a case of which nuisance would show up.

The rain eventually got too heavy, and Taijin resigned the idea of him getting home with his parts dry in the immediate future. He knew that the box that the gauntlets were in were, to some extent, water resistant, but he remembered dropping them a few times here and there, and the cracks that he hadn't seen yet may cause more damage than he would have liked to deal with. He stopped by a small open air shelter in the park, a marble shrine that had been repurposed for defense against sun or rain. He sat down on a bench in the white marble shelter, still clutching his box tight. Having just come from school, his sling bag was still over his shoulders dripping wet, but he didn't seem to mind that much. He gently unhinged the plastic box, each time coming with a satisfying "click". He opened the box, and after wiping his hands on his shirt, he took up the two gauntlets and looked at them in satisfaction. Right before he could begin inspecting for paint imperfections caused by water, Taijin felt an unusual weight on his left thigh. An unfamiliar voice broke in.

"What's this here?"

Without moving his head, Taijin gently swept his eyes to his left, and noticed a young, blonde boy, no older than 12, leaning right onto his shoulder to get a closer look. He was wearing a white uniform that Taijin recognized as the junior uniform for Zein academy. He was leaning half of his body weight on Taijin's thighs to get a better look at the gauntlets. The boy commented, as if complimenting himself  
"Well isn't this something interesting"  
Taijin gave him a confused look, hoping that that would remind the boy of the idea of personal space. The boy glanced at Taijin, and gently backed away with little sense of urgency. He brushed off some water that got on his shirt and gave Taijin a sharp look; slightly apologetic but generally indifferent.  
"Sorry. It looks like you've got something interesting over there."  
"Gunpla parts. Nothing amazing."  
"Of course. Except those particular parts are quite interesting."  
"You think so?"  
"I wouldn't have said so if I didn't"  
Taijin scoffed sarcastically at the child's responses. He looked away into the distance, watching the raindrops trickle down from the sky. He wasn't great at socializing, but he made his best effort to make idle conversation. After all, the two were under this marble construct alone, and it didn't seem like the rain was going to change anytime soon.  
"You on the way home from school 'till this caught you up?" Taijin said  
"Suppose you could say that"  
"Telling by your uniform, you're from Zein, right?"  
"Yeah."  
"It's quite a while away, what are you doing all the way out here? Is your home on the other side of this park?"  
"Suppose you could say that."  
"You've got a funny way of talking."  
"I get that a lot."

The rain started to intensify as the two made awkward idle conversation, alone under the stone structure. After enough small talk, the boy's brown eyes suddenly widened, like an owl that had been caught in the pale midnight.  
"You're Taijin?"  
"You know of me?"  
"Heard a few things here and there. They say you're a good builder."  
"Didn't you just comment that my gunpla parts were quite interesting?"  
"Of course."  
The boy glanced to his right, towards the road that Taijin was supposed to take to get to his dorm. Without turning to face him, the boy muttered  
"You've still got about 30 minutes of walking to do."  
Taijin looked up to the sky. There was no sign of any clouds anymore. The sky was just painted a dull, dead gray color. The sun was masked by layers and layers of thick clouds. With no sunlight, there was nothing to indicate that this was a 4:00pm sky. It was as if these clouds came out of nowhere, like they were summoned out of ash from a dark, brooding wizard. There was just no way such a contrast in the atmosphere could happen so fast.  
"Not in this rain I don't"  
The boy, who was about to make a witty response, caught his words at the end of his tongue as he noticed a rhythmic vibration bouncing in his pocket. He reached for his phone, and gestured with 1 finger to Taijin that he would only be away for a moment. Taijin spent these moments checking his gauntlets carefully. He lifted them up to eye level and gently turned them around, occasionally stopping at right angles to get a cleaner look. He tilted them up and down, and he let out a sigh of relief when he saw that nothing was disrupted. He then lifted the plastic box up to the air, and inspected it for cracks that may have allowed water to get in the way. There were none. Taijin then placed the weapons into the plastic box and closed it immediately. The boy returned to Taijin's side after having just hung up someone on his phone. Taijin innocently gestured for him to sit, but with a gentle wave of his hand the boy dismissed his suggestion. The boy said expectantly  
"Your dorm of C1 is on Kusunoki street, right?"  
"Yeah. What about it?"  
"You're going to need a lot more than 30 minutes. A small flood has broken out on that street. Although its nothing serious, there's no way you can get back there by tonight."  
Taijin sighed. This was a terribly bad spot for him. He had just made some new parts and out of nowhere a flood breaks out to keep him away from home. And every second away from home is a second of potential danger for the new, fragile parts. Taijin thought about how he could call Cindy or Kosetsu, they were about 45 minutes away by car and they'd surely understand. Kosetsu was staying over that night anyway, so it won't be unusual or intrusive – just incredibly inconvenient. No, they weren't an option – Taijin recalled from a while ago that Cindy told him that her mansion would be busy tending to special guests. Right as he had just finished that thought process, the boy gestured openly to an approaching black car.  
"You're welcome to stay over at my house for the night. My parents are away, so it's just me and a few maids and chefs."  
Taijin recoiled awkwardly.  
"I really can't do that! We just met, after all and I mean-"  
"Are you saying that I'm suspicious?"  
"No, not at all, it's just that-"  
"Or would you rather just stay here for who knows how long and damage your parts?"

The boy walked over to the side of the marble shelter, open to the air. He felt raindrops aggressively attack the tips of his shoes as he approached the edge. The black car stopped, and from the car emerged a man holding two umbrellas, headed right towards the child and Taijin. The child quickly turned to face Taijin, still quite confused and reluctant. His short, blonde hair glistened as water drops dived out of his hair.  
"I'm Tobias."  
"I'm Taijin"  
"I know that, of course."  
"You've got a funny way of talking."  
"I get that a lot."

* * *

Taijin suddenly found himself at a stranger's house after having just met him in a park. He was sitting there on the floor in Tobias' room, which was modest, simple and plain, while Tobias was changing out of his school uniform. Nobody could tell just from the room that it belonged to an 11 year old. It was too minimalistic, too professional, and too neat – in some ways, much like Tobias himself. The only thing that might have indicated that Tobias was his age was Taijin's gauntlets sitting in their plastic box on the floor. Although Taijin had just met him, he felt an unspoken aura of mellowness around Tobias. He spoke far too maturely for his age – and Taijin supposed that that was the reason why he could trust him.  
Tobias emerged from his bathroom in a loose, comfortable blue shirts and matching blue shorts. They looked a bit too baggy and the wind from the air conditioner seemed to visibly brush against the loose fabric on his chest, but Tobias didn't seem to care. He had a white towel swung around his shoulders, and his blonde hair was scraggy and wet. For the first time, Taijin noticed that Tobias had funny brown eyes – an unusual shade of maroon only seen in rare, expensive chestnuts. He had his phone in his hands, and judging from the still shining screen, he had just used it.  
"Turns out that the rain has gotten much worse and a large portion of the city has been flooded. It's nothing serious, but authorities has just issued an order for all people to stay in their houses for the next two days. Zein has just canceled tomorrow's school day, and so has Raizen. Guess you'll be staying over for a while."  
Taijin sighed. He tried to force the most honest smile he could.  
"Thanks for letting me stay over, man."  
"Tobias."  
"Thanks for letting me stay over, Tobias" Taijin corrected  
Tobias walked over to his school desk. It was incredibly immaculate, almost as if it were never used. He reached under the desk and slid out a large cardboard box. The light, gentle sound that it made on the carpet as it was dragged across suggested that the cardboard box was mostly empty, if not extremely light. Tobias pulled it all the way out to the center of the room. He looked at Taijin, and gestured him to shuffle across the floor a bit so he could place the box right in front of him.  
"This box has some unbuilt gunpla I plan to use for my custom"  
Taijin caught on quickly.  
"And you want me to help build it?"  
"Of course not. I want you to teach me how to build it"  
"Same difference"  
"Absolutely not"  
Tobias gently reached into the cardboard box and pulled out gunpla essentials, one by one. A few HG gunpla to build – specifically a HG Chaos Gundam, a HG Savior Gundam and a HG Blu Duel. A box containing a full set of tools. A notebook and a pen. Once they were all set on the floor facing Tajin, Tobias made a sweeping gesture over the items.  
"Please do teach me about how to build it."  
Taijin scratched his chin in confusion. He had never taught someone about gunpla before, let alone a stranger he had just met.  
"How much do you already know?"  
"Assume I know nothing"  
"Do you really know nothing? Despite going to Zein?"  
"I know quite a bit. But I want a refresher"  
Taijin sighed, and then thought about this situation for a second. He honestly had nothing better to do, and this was the least he could do for a kind stranger who had taken him in from a pretty serious storm. "I assume that I'm going to teach you everything from square one?" Taijin asked  
"From square one."  
Taijin cracked his knuckles and stretched his back for a bit. After he was finished, he nodded his head at Tobias.  
"So let's start, shall we?"

* * *

**Step 1 – Planning**  
"What. You're telling me I have to plan a gunpla?"  
Taijin nodded his head. He reached for the notebook and pen, and flicked to the first page. It was a perfectly blank piece of paper and it still smelt of plastic wrap. It was clear that it wasn't used at all. He got a notebook and pen and started writing. As he was writing, he spoke  
"Well, you know what they say, fail to plan and plan to –"  
"Please don't."  
"Okay, but you get it."  
Taijin tilted the notebook for Tobias to see, and it now had a pentagon shape on it. It was the familiar "stat rating" pentagon that was used to rate the strengths of characters in games or shows. They said that the bigger the pentagon the 'stronger' the character. Attributes like attack, defense, speed, all of those typical ratings were supposed to be measured. Tobias looked at Taijin incredibly unconvincingly.  
"And what's this about?"  
"It's a plan for your gunpla"  
"Really? Because that looks like a pentagon"  
Taijin was taken aback by Tobias' sarcasm. He let out a small giggle just to give Tobias the reaction he wanted, and then swiftly continued with his explanation  
"A gunpla is like a weapon. If you're using one you aren't suited for you're going to fail"  
"And exactly how is that relevant to the pentagon?"  
"You know how a power pentagon works right? The one you see in all of those data booklets?"  
Tobias nodded his head gently, not breaking his eye contact with Taijin. He was trying to study every single movement that he did.  
"This is basically how I personally plan my gunpla. Other people have other ways that work for them, but this is how I do it, and since you asked me to teach you as if you knew nothing…"  
"Yes. I know. Continue, please."  
Taijin started to draw more pentagons until there were a total of 3 pentagons. He then labeled them, one by one, and it became clear what they were.  
"I assume those are the stats of these three gunpla?" Tobias said  
"Yeah. The chaos is the one on the left, the savior is the one in the middle and the blu duel is the one on the very right. Now, to get some accurate stats."  
Taijin pulled out his phone, and with a few touches to his screen, he was able to bring up a large database of gunpla statistics. They were all manually entered through a note taking app, and he sifted through dozens of other statistics through gunpla of all types and times in order to find the exact stats of the 3 gunpla in question.  
"According to the fan-site gunpla world, the HG Chaos has a total stat rating of 663, the HG Saviour has a stat rating of 696, and the HG Blu Duel has a stat rating of 631. Nothing too spectacular or disastrous."  
Tobias nodded, and then reached for the HG Blu Duel's box.  
"So I assume that we're going to be focusing on the Saviour? It's got the highest stat total, clearly."  
"No. Just wait. According to the stat distribution, the pentagon looks a little bit like this."  
Taijin quickly jotted down a few straight lines here and there across the pentagons, and within seconds, perfect stat displays were shown. The lines were straight and precise from point to point, as if a ruler and compass were used to construct the shapes. But no, the uniform, consistent three drawings were just a product of one talented artist.  
"The savior has the best long range potential with a score of 143 out of 200, but most of that comes from its two beam cannons. In terms of short range, the Blu Duel comes on top with its anti-armor penetrating knives giving it a score of 132 out of 200" Taijin continued with his explanation, circling the relevant parts of the hexagon as he went. "In terms of speed, the saviour's legs which were custom fit for transforming gives it a score of 141 out of 200, and in terms of defense, the chaos is on top by miles with the two mobile weapon pods giving it the highest defense score of 171 out of 200."  
Tobias quickly pointed out before Taijin could mention  
"And what's the last category? You've left it blank in all three pentagons"  
"Oh, that?" Taijin put down his pen and reached for one of the gunpla boxes. Out of random, he pulled the HG Chaos out from the bunch. "That last stat is for maneuverability. How good the frame is and how pilotable it is. See here?"  
Looking closer, Tobias noticed that by the bottom left of the gunpla box, there was a date that indicated when the gunpla was built. For the chaos gundam, it was Early December 2004.  
"All three of these gunpla, honestly, are quite poor in this category because they're all so outdated in their gunpla structure. They all get the same score of 90/200 because against the newer kits from AGE , Iron Blooded Orphans or even some of the works of 00, they move like slugs in cement."  
Tobias nodded. Taijin picked up the pencil again and flicked over to a fresh page. He began jotting down a much larger pentagon that took up the entire sheet.  
"So if we take the strengths of each gunpla and overlap them like so and so… there." Taijin turned the notebook around so Tobias could see. This hexagon was noticeably larger than the three before. "The total stat rating for the perfect hybrid gunpla between these three kits makes a total stat rating of 787"  
"Is that any good?"  
"It's not going to win you any international tournaments but it's going to be better than any straight build you'll ever come across."  
"Can you put that in terms I can understand?"  
Taijin scratched his head for a second as he struggled to think of an appropriate analogy. He stringed together a muddled analogy that overlooked some elements - none of which were critical for Tobias at that moment.  
"Say you get a maths test back and you get 78.7%. How do you feel?"  
"Depends on how well everybody else does."  
" Say everybody else in the world took that test and you're in the top 21.3%. How do you feel?"  
"Depends on where my friends place."  
Taijin surrendered on trying to find an appropriate analogy for describing stat distributions. They were fan made anyway, and often were disproven by talented pilots who knew what they were doing.  
"Just take my word for it that it's pretty good"  
Tobias' chestnut eyes suddenly glowed with a sharp curiosity.  
"What is the stat rating of your gunpla?"  
Taijin, taken by surprise by the question, let out a sigh. It was pretty clear to Tobias that this was not an easy question to answer.  
"How to word it…I don't really have a committed custom right now?"  
"Excuse me?"  
"I'm in the middle of building one, but I don't have one as of yet"  
The two of them glanced towards Taijin's gauntlets, hidden in the treasure chest of the plastic box. Tobias inhaled, and took in how potentially powerful those gauntlets might be. One of the best builders of the city, right there in his very room, teaching him about gunpla. Tobias thought about what kind of heavenly stars had to align in order for this scenario to take place. After a brief moment of honest admiration, Tobias turned to Taijin again.  
"Then that Exia. The one that everybody in the city's been talking about. The gundam of sapphire."  
Taijin's mind blanked out for a moment. He was, indeed, the person who built most of the parts in the first place, with Kosetsu merely touching up some parts and putting two and two together, but the way in which Kosetsu used the gunpla would deceive many into believing that it was much, much stronger. It was infinitely stronger than the sum of its parts.  
"I…I'm not really sure to be honest. It should be around 860 at maximum capacity?"  
Tobias nodded his head, and then gestured for the notebook. He studied Taijin's notes. It became clear that although the Saviour was indeed the highest 'scoring' gunpla out of all the ones he bought, there were aspects were the other gunpla beat it by miles. In fact, by pure category, the saviour was only the best out of the three in only two of the five categories, and not by so much. Not to mention, this was clearly just the basic bare bones. Taijin had yet to address weapon customization or parts building, or even how the build itself could impact the performance. Once glance at the gauntlets and Tobias could tell that what Taijin was talking about was merely kit bashing – a small drop of water in an ocean of complication. He pondered how deep this rabbit hole of building plastic models could go.

* * *

**Step 1.5 – Dinner**

The clock had struck 6, and Tobias got a call from his maids through the intercom. He nodded minimally, saying nothing more than "Hm." Or "Yeah" when needed, and keeping totally silent when not. Tobias put down the phone and looked at Taijin, still sitting there on his floor in school uniform.  
"Dinner is ready downstairs. Sukiyaki. You're around the size of my father, so my maids have already gotten you a change of clothes. The bath is going to be ready after dinner, and since I've just showered, I suggest you take the bath."  
Taijin smiled at Tobias and chuckled for a bit.  
"You're so nice, Tobias. Inviting a stranger in need to your house and treating them like you would any other guest. How can I ever repay you?"  
"First off, you're not a stranger. I knew who you were before I met you. Secondly, you're my guest, so it makes sense that you'd be treated like one. Thirdly, never mind returning the favor. You helping me build this custom is already good enough. If I were to ask for anything though, It'd probably be your phone number"  
Taijn obliged, and lent his unlocked phone to Tobias, who quickly entered his number and gave it a test call. Tobias' Iphone rang on the desk in its default tune. He closed Taijin's phone and handed it back to him.  
"Thanks." Tobias said.  
"No, it should be me thanking you!"  
"Let's just go have some dinner downstairs shall we?"

* * *

**Step 2 – Building**

The dinner was incredibly filling for the two of them, and there was a short break afterwards where Taijin took a bath and changed into some comfy wear. The maids kindly put Taijin's dirty wear into the laundry, ready to be retrieved once the flood subsides. The clock struck 8, and the two were prepared to work again.

"Okay, now that we've done the planning of your gunpla, now it's time to begin construction. We've agreed on the gunpla's general structure, right?"  
The two agreed on a kitbash of the three kits with the parts that best correspond to their attribute. The saviour's legs for maximum speed and aerial control. The Blu Duel's arms for close range control and versaltility. The Chaos' body for control over the mobile weapon pods which could only be equipped on the back of the Chaos. Although the stats were not perfect, as inevitably some parts were given up for others, Tobias was satisfied with the project.  
Taijin picked up the pair of gunpla cutters and gave it a quick inspection. The edges of the plastic cutters were a bit serrated in a way that was clearly not intentional. It no longer had that stainless steel shine, but instead was a tad bit brown with rust. However, the spring was perfectly intact, and Taijin smiled at the cutters as he gave it a few test clicks.  
"You know how to use this, right?"  
"What's there to say? You cut out parts with it by opening and closing it?"  
"Yeah, but there's more to it than that."  
"If you start teaching me shit about spirituality and how the parts are alive I'm going to kick you out of my house."  
Taijin let out a wild laugh. He wasn't sure if Tobias was serious or not, but that comment was far too funny to pass up. After a few seconds of hysterical laughter and even a few tears, Taijin recollected himself.  
"No, this is the part where you remove the parts from the gates. If you do a bad job, the gunpla will fall apart and you'll have a shit time."  
Tobias scoffed. He reached for the Chaos Gundam's box, tore open the plastic seal and quickly flicked open the instruction booklet. Without a delay in his actions, he reached for gate A and begun cutting away at the relevant parts. Taijin watched him work. Tobias' motions were consistent and robotic, almost mesmerizing. Rotate the plate, cut the part, let it fall, repeat until done. The parts for the Chaos Gundam's torso fell onto the floor like an autumn tree's gentle withering. Slow, elegant, and fascinating.  
With what seemed like a few quick flicks of his wrist, Tobias assembled the torso within a matter of seconds. Taijin quickly realized that although he had been asked by Tobias to "teach him assuming he knew nothing", it was obvious that Tobias was no beginner to gunpla.  
Taijin reached for inside the toolbox and found exactly what he was looking for regarding the next step – pieces of sandpaper. It was of a respectable brand for gunpla building and was still unsealed in the packet, in long, rough strips. Tobias seemed to have paid little attention as he just continued on with his assembling. Slowly removing the plastic seal, Taijin began to retrieve the familiar sanding tool that he used to use at home all the time.  
"Do you know what this is?"  
"Assume I don't."  
"This is sandpaper. The number on the paper means how rough it is. The higher the number is, the smoother it will be. Start off with 600 and then go up to 800, and then finish with 1000."  
Taijin grasped one piece of sandpaper and tore it into four even squares. He then folded the squares four times, leaving a handful of sanding papers. He pushed one towards Tobias.  
"These should be a lot easier to use. Their thickness makes it easier to hold and you can use the edges to sand down tough to reach corners."  
Tobias took the sandpaper from Taijin's hand, and before Taijin knew it , Tobias was sanding down the present nub marks of the Chaos' torso with furious precision. The motions were circular and repetitive, and within no time at all, the nub marks were rendered invisible. Within moments, the chest parts were cut, sanded and assembled.  
"Okay, Chest done."  
Taijin nodded, and reached to the chest for inspection. Like he suspected, it was much too well built for a newbie. The nubs were all cleaned up perfectly with little to no signs of blemishes. The parts were fit together so snugly that an amateur would assume that cement was used – but the loose, flexible yet reliable joints and polycaps would render that thought impossible. It was almost as good as something someone from the dorm of C1 would have built. Tobias leaned back and put his hands around his head in a relaxed state.  
"So, what now? Do I carry it on step by step?"  
Taijin shook his head.  
"Normally you'd go and continue it like that as a straight build, but we don't really need anything else beside the chest and waist, so we can skip the arms and legs because they'll be taken from other gunpla."  
Tobias nodded, and put the torso to the side. He then reached for the Blu Duel's box, and continued. Rotate the plate, cut the par, let it fall, repeat until done.

* * *

The kitbashed gunpla finally had its limbs attached with a satisfying click. Because they were made in the same SEED series, nothing needed to be done to modify joints or attachments. They just snapped on naturally as if they belonged there. Except, they didn't. Nothing made that more clear than the striking color differences. Tobias sighed and gave Taijin a slightly dissatisfied look.  
"Don't the colors look funny?"  
"They do. We're going to have to paint them tomorrow."  
Tobias finally had the chance to turn around and look at the wall clock behind him. It was 12:40, and they had been working on the gunpla for well over 4 hours. He stood up and walked towards his windows, hoping to admire the stars under the night sky. All he saw were rough gray shapes that could have been smoke or clouds. The fading, dying moonlight struggled to reflect onto the glass windows of Tobias' room, much to his disappointment. He turned around and gave his gunpla another glance. Then, a detrimental issue popped up in his head. An issue so important that it has to be addressed in every gunpla in existence, yet arguably means so little that pilots can put no effort in this issue and still get away scotch free.

His gunpla had no name.

He turned to Taijin, about to ask for advice, but noticed that he had already collapsed on the floor, dead asleep. He let out a warm smile to Taijin's back. What a hard worker, he thought to himself. What kind of person just happily tags along with a stranger to their house, just like that? What kind of person stays up until past midnight to help said person build a plastic toy? What kind of person leaves their prized constructions in a stranger's room and the falls right asleep?  
Tobias walked over to the gauntlets that Taijin built. He looked at them from outside the plastic box. For the first time, he noticed a few things about the gauntlet he never stopped to consider before. They were asymmetrical. They had barrels attached to them, and thin threads of wire wrapping all around the place. What Tobias had assumed to be panel lines were the exact opposite – they were actual parts that were connected, glued and attached together. There were at least two hundred components to each gauntlet, Tobias guessed, and both of the gauntlets were made up of more parts than the freshly built kit bashed gunpla that lay on the floor. And they were just gauntlets. They were leagues upon leagues ahead of the simple kitbash Tobias shuffled together. Putting them in the same room almost felt like a disgrace. Like a world class vocalist attending a school production featuring nursery rhymes. One was just incomparably better.

Tobias shook his head in disbelief. Here Taijin was, teaching him step by step about gunpla assuming that he knew nothing. In a matter so detailed it was like teaching a baby how to walk using a guide from an encyclopedia. Do this, then that, then this, and this is done because of that. Some babies already understand completely how to walk, but pretend to struggle to get praise and experience from their parents when they succeeded. Tobias knew that somewhere down the line, Taijin caught on that he clearly wasn't a beginner. He clearly didn't know nothing about gunpla, and this clearly was not his first time dancing with these parts.

Taijin had no idea that he was teaching basic gunpla construction to the #1 Ace U14 student of Zein Academy, Tobias McFarlene.

Why Tobias asked Taijin to teach him assuming he knew nothing was something that he himself struggled to come to terms with. Was it for the attention? Or was it for the look of astonishment? Maybe it was for the revision of rusty skills, Maybe he just needed and excuse to finally get down and dirty with building his own gunpla instead of straight building in school and leaving the gundam in his locker, hidden away for nobody could see.  
But despite clearly being much more advanced than an amateur, Taijin never stopped the lesson to ask once. He never interrupted saying "You should know this" or "you clearly can do this". He treated Tobias exactly the way he wanted to be treated – like a perfect blank slate beginner. It was difficult to be treated like that when the entire year group shivers at the mention of your name and gunpla battle in the same sentence. He may have missed out on learning some skills he may have learnt if he were upfront about it, but at he appreciated being treated like somebody new. It was a refreshing feeling he was never wiling to surrender.  
Tobias was reminded of a proverb he had read in a book a while ago.

"_The best sages are the ones who teach their students without question  
Even though the students may already know the answer  
Lessons breezed through quickly at lightning's progression  
like a wild hurricane blessed dancer_  
_But in the scenario where the student isn't learning  
The best sages will find a way to keep the fires burning"_

Tobias looked once more at Taijin before he crawled into his bed, ready for sleep. What kind of beasts were yet to be unleashed in the sage's heart? More specifically, what kind of monstrosity is going to have the pleasure of tearing enemies down with those gauntlets? Tobias, for the first time in a long time, felt truly inferior to somebody. He knew that there were people in the world that he couldn't beat - like the city's celebrities Elisa Ayumi or Tsuko Kaiba, but he always hid under the prospect of "Given enough time, if I were their age I'd be just as good if not better". But not for Taijin. Tobias could have been given 10 years to study Taijin's craft and he still wouldn't have been able to produce such an intricate art.

Tobias knew he wanted to be a sage. A sage like Taijin. A sage that would inspire people to step up their game and move forward in ways other people would see as arrogance. Taijin was patient, hardworking and honest, and one look at Tobias' kitbash gunpla reflected Taijin's earnest effort of teaching. Taijin lit a fire within Tobias, and suddenly, it snapped. A name for the gunpla.

Gundam Hakim. The Sage Gundam.

* * *

**A.N**

Oh my, I'm not dead.

Hi guys! I hope you're all enjoying your summer! With more free time on my hands now I find myself being able to write more often, so you can expect the return of this series as well as my side series in the near future!

Have a nice day! :)


End file.
